I have a feeling that a lot of people are going to start trying to eat healthy on January 1. I thought that we might as well go out with a bang, right? This cake is not the least bit healthy. It’s full of sugar, butter and rum. You can make it whole grain if you like, but really, I think healthifying this thing is a lost cause. You could also use coconut oil instead of butter, but somehow that doesn’t sound as amazing as butter rum cake, does it?
The special thing about this rum cake, other than being the most awesome rum cake ever, is that it’s completely from scratch. Most rum cakes call for cake mix and pudding mix. Neither of which I have access to here in Germany. I remember a few years ago, I spent hours looking for a scratch rum cake recipe. No luck. But Always Order Dessert has solved that problem! Now the whole world can enjoy rum cake. :)
I made this cake for a birthday party, a birthday party I wasn’t even going to, and it smelled so unbelievably amazing that I had to cut into it. And then I cut into it some more. And then we just cut the cake into slices, made some whoopsy-I-ate-most-of-the-cake-brownies and Mr. Texanerin brought a few cake pieces to the party.
This cake is so ridiculously boozy. Some folks don’t like a strong alcohol taste in their goodies. Not me. I want my cake to be swimming in booze. And this thing is SO moist. I suppose that’s not too surprising considering the amount of butter that goes into it. In addition to what’s in the cake, you also make a butter rum syrup, poke holes in the cake, and then you pour the syrup all over it. See. Swimming. :)
One thing to note is that this cake will not appear to have that crunchy sugar layer if you follow directions properly. The first time I made it, I poured the butter rum syrup over the cake as I should have. The second time, I made the rum syrup and let it sit in the fridge for a week before I had time to make another cake. After I had made the cake, I reheated the syrup quickly in the microwave until it was melted. But it was still a bit crystallized. I thought, whatever, and poured it over the cake anyway. That was a bad decision. So make the syrup and then immediately pour it over the cake. The pictured cake also has walnuts in it. You can toss some chopped ones in if you like, but I thought that they just distracted from the good stuff.
The original recipe calls for homemade pudding mix. The homemade pudding mix yields 2 1/2 cups and you only need one cup for the cake recipe. I didn’t want any pudding mix leftover, so I didn’t bother making it. I just added some more sugar, cornstarch and some milk powder. Worked out just fine!
Seriously, people. You have to make this. After the first bite, I declared it the best thing I had ever eaten. And it still holds that #1 position!
And I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! We celebrated with a John Hughes + other assorted high school / college movies marathon. And please excuse my extended unintentional blogging break. I’m still working on Mr. Texanerin’s Christmas present, but I’m making myself get back to blogging because it’s been way too long! My gift is something crafty and I hope to make a post about it next week.
Enjoy the rest of the holidays, everyone! This cake would be a huge hit at a New Year’s Eve party (or any party, except perhaps a children’s party). Just sayin’… ;)
Totally from Scratch Rum Cake
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 12-15 servings
Ingredients
- 1¾ cup (22 grams) all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ cup (1.2dl) non-fat or whole-milk dry milk powder
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (.9dl) cornstarch
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 stick (½ cup or 225 grams) butter, softened
- 1¾ cups (388 grams) granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons + ½ cup (160ml) canola oil
- ¾ cup (175ml) milk
- 4 large eggs
- ¾ cup (175ml) dark rum (recommended: Tortuga Rum)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 stick (½ cup or 225 grams) butter
- ½ cup (120ml) water
- ¾ cup (166 grams) granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (120ml) dark rum
Cake:
Rum Syrup:
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F (162°C). Spray a 12 cup bundt pan, very well, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, dry milk powder, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set this aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the dry flour mix to this. It will resemble crumbs.
- In the bowl that just had the flour mix, whisk together the canola oil, milk, eggs, rum, and vanilla extract. Add this to the crumb mixture and beat until well combined. The batter will be very thin.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- When there are about 15 minutes remaining on the timer, start the butter rum syrup. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter, water, sugar and salt until the sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally. Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the rum (it'll bubble).
- Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then invert onto a wire rack. Wash and dry the bundt pan and place the cake back into the pan. Poke holes into the cake (I used a meat thermometer to do this) and pour the syrup slowly over the cake. Can be kept at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Adapted from Always Order Dessert's Rum Cake
33 comments on "Totally from Scratch Rum Cake" — Add one!
I wondered if you think brown sugar could be used in the "glaze."
I don't see why not. It would definitely taste a little different. More like brown sugar and less like rum. Good luck! :)
Holy, this looks decadent! My mother in law makes an incredible boozy chocolate cake but my hubby doesn't do chocolate cake. I'm thinking he would love this :D Forget him though, I think I would love this :D
Erin, thank you so much! we made THE rum cake over the holidays, and it's indeed the best thing. We wish we had a proper bundt pan though, since we ended up with sooo much batter, and had to use a banana-bread baking pan plus about 10 muffin forms. Plenty of rum cake:) absolutely loving it. Check out how ours turned out: http://fromblck.blogspot.dk/2013/01/the-rum-cake.html
Happy New Year!
Hi ladies! I'm so happy you enjoyed it. I was ecstatic to get your comment! Not only because you made it, but because only a few people actually saw this post that I thought it'd quickly be forgotten and never enjoyed by anyone. So thank you! And thank you as always for your feedback. I really appreciate it! Going to check out your post now. :)
I can't say I've ever had an experience in which I ate the cake I made for someone else's birthday, so I suppose that means that this cake is extra delicious – it sure looks that way! I'm not normally a fan of boozy cake, but I might just make an except for this one!
Well, it wasn't like a birthday cake. Just something extra as part of the present. :) So she got brownies instead! And if you're not a fan of boozy cake, then maybe this isn't for you. It's the booziest cake ever! But I admire your openness to this cake. ;)
Sally, Perhaps if you provided me with your address and preference I just might ship you a box or two of Chex cereal. Re: Puppy chow
Hi! I think you meant this for me because Sally has tons of Chex cereal. :) That is such an incredibly lovely offer but unfortunately it's very expensive to send packages over here. I'll be in the US in June and I will most definitely pick up a few boxes then because I can't wait to make puppy chow! I've never had any version of it and seeing it everywhere on the internet drives me a little crazy. Thank you again for your extremely kind offer! I was actually taken a little aback. Thank you and may you have a wonderful new year!
going out with a bang. YES indeed. Kinda like my peanut butter brownies today Erin. I onestly do not think that I've seen a more moist or soft or buttery cake recipe ever – I want to reach right through the screen! I freaking LOVE rum cakes!
Oh, thank you! And yes. This is the rum cake recipe to end all rum cake recipes. Soooo buttery and moist. And I love your enthusiasm. Thank you. :)
The fact that you want your cake to taste like booze and have it be front & center and not in the background – yes!!! I made rum cake balls about 2-3 yrs ago for a post based on a recreation of rum cake my hubs and I ate in Grand Cayman. We ate enough cake to get tipsy – now that's plenty of cake :) But it WAS pretty strongly doused in rum. I love everything about this cake from the moistness to the rum glaze to the butter!
Ooh, I definitely need to check those out! Rum cake balls. I've never actually made cake balls but rum cake balls sound worth trying!
That rum syrup sounds buttery and delicious, perfect for a bundt!
I still have some left in the fridge but I don't know what to do with it. It's just not the same without the cake. ;)
I had a similar story with a bund cake for Christmas last year. In the end I had to bake another one :D Rum cake sounds wow. I do like rum :D Happy New Year to Mr and Mrs Texanerin!
Thank you and Happy New Year's to you two as well! Oh, sorry. You three. :) What are you going to do? All I know is I'm making cake!
That's so funny that the cake went from a cake to several pieces for the party…sounds like something I would totally do!! We had a nice Christmas and hope you did too!! xoxo
Haha. Well I *had* to try it. How does one know if it's sendable unless you try it?!
hahaha swimming in booze…the perfect cake to end 2012…or begin 2013 eating a slice with a glass of bubbly :-)
Or a glass of rum. :D
Baaahhh this looks so awesome!!
Thanks!
I can't get over how moist this looks. Sounds so good!
The moistness was definitely a huge plus. :)
Holly smokes this cake for sure is using butter and sugar ;-) Well why not? It is the end of the year, is not like you bake like that all the time, plus indulging once in a while is perfectly ok. Just don't eat the cake all at once ;-) and you are right, I don't think there is any point in making this cake healthy! Merry Christmas and happy new year!!
Oh no, you caught me being naughty. :D I feel like I've been caught! And if Sonia sees this, I'll feel like I'm really in trouble. :) I'm kind of sick of sweets so I have no desire to eat the entire second cake. Happy New Year to you, too!
So glad you went out with a bang because I am definitely going to try and squeeze this in before 1/1! And no, I'm not sharing.
Haha, that's the spirit. I hope you get the chance to make it! It's sooo good.
This cake looks absolutely delicious! Why must all desserts with alcohol look so dang good? I mean come ON. Not fair. :P
You're with family right now, right? So make it for them! I'm sure they'll fully support your decision to make this cake + provide you with the alcohol. :D
This cake sounds incredible Erin, definitely worth splurging on!
I most definitely agree with you! :)