Rum cake!

[Mosca]

Baking a rum cake together is a holiday tradition for my daughter and me. This is the best one yet, with a heavy, dense texture.

[DavidNorcross]

Man that looks wonderful!

[Jerod Broussard]

Rum rum aka yum yum.

[OC Sandy]

Yum! That looks like the Bacardi Rum Cake recipe from way back when.

[gcdmd]

https://12tomatoes.com/1970s-bacardi-rum-cake/

[OC Sandy]

gcdmd Yes! That one.

[mcook2201]

Gosh that looks fantastic, wonderful tradition for sure.
Any particular recipe you use? Love my rums.

[Michael_in_TX]

That really does look spectacular. I can almost taste it!

[Mosca]

It’s the Bacardi rum cake. It came out much denser this year, which is good, probably because the date on the cake mix expired on the 22nd and the baking powder was past its prime.

A friend of ours who baked cakes professionally once told us that an open secret in the baking community is to start with a box of cake mix. I also heard that somewhere else.

[Purc]

I love rum cake and have not had it in a long time. Thanks for reminding me of this dessert.

[LA Pork Butt]

It looks good. A friend of mine has a family recipe that produces a rum cake that still has some alcohol kick tho it. I don’t know if that is good or bad but the first get’s your attention. I would think in most cases the alcohol is supposed to cook off. Does your version cook off the alcohol?

[Mosca]

LA Pork Butt The recipe calls for half a cup of rum in the cake; that cooks off, as (I had to look this up) ethanol boils at 173° and the cake is done at 200-210°.

The glaze calls for 3/4 cup of rum; you heat butter, sugar, and 1/4 cup of water, stir while boiling for a couple minutes, then turn off the heat and add the rum; then reheat for 30 seconds or so. We usually just use a cup of rum, 1/4 cup for the boil and 3/4 cup for the delayed pour, which is what we did yesterday.

The glaze typically has a kick to it. For this particular cake, though, the cake took a really long time in the oven, and we held the glaze at a simmer for about 20 minutes. By my taste, there is very little alcohol left, if any. But it has a wonderful deep sugar cane richness. If I were making it for teetotalers, that would be my choice.

[LA Pork Butt]

As I recall the cake my friend’s mom made didn’t have a glaze, and you could taste the alcohol in the cake. So, I don’t know if the alcohol was added was added after the cake was cooked.

[Mosca]

I’ve looked at a lot of recipes, there are some that call for poking hundreds of holes in the cake and then drizzling rum onto it. A little goes a long way, and we’ve remarked among ourselves that the perception of it being really boozy is more powerful than the actual alcohol content! If you cut that cake into 16 slices, the maximum amount of rum per slice would be an ounce, minus the angel’s portion from cooking and standing.

[Johnny Booth]

I have seen the dredge method where it is poured right on the finished cake. Strictly an adult dessert. Really good, but has to be consumed right then.