This Easy Rum Cake with Butter Rum Glaze is rich and delicious and comes together quickly with a cake mix; it's how Bacardi made it and I wouldn't change a thing!
This recipe for Easy Rum Cake with Rum Butter Glaze has been on this blog since before it was a blog; it was most likely one of the very first recipes I included in my first recipe site WAY back in 1995. I decided it needed to be updated once and it was time to do it again.
Why? Well, the date was July 2009 and the photo was a little thing from a point and shoot camera. Awful.
It's another of those treasures that are ensconced in an ugly little recipe binder I've had since before blogs, heck since before anyone had even heard of the Internet and it's always been a favorite to make for special occasions.
I've gone back and forth with myself about including a post with this recipe for an Easy Rum Cake that uses a boxed cake mix AND a box of instant pudding. I long ago became a 'scratch baker' and thought I should take this recipe and convert it to ingredients that fit that standard for me today. But two things stopped me.
First, this is a legacy of sorts; the first adult cocktail I ever had was a Bacardi Cocktail, a simple drink with Bacardi Rum, grenadine, and lime juice. It was my standard so I typically had a bottle of Bacardi Rum on hand. This recipe was either given to me or published in a magazine in the 1970's and because I was a Bacardi fan, I thought I had to give it a try.
NOTHING like the cocktail I loved but at the time right up my alley; in my 20's I was all about boxed cake mixes! The cake was a hit though...from the first time I made it to the last; a quick, desperate need for a dessert with almost no time to make one and I got this cake in the oven...the easy part was of major importance that night.
The second reason is that I mentioned to a friend that I was going to change it up and make it a recipe from scratch, eliminating the cake mix and the instant pudding. She hit me with a resounding 'NO!' I had no idea that every year for her husband's birthday she went to my blog, found that old, old recipe and made him his favorite cake.
She loved that it was easy and you know what else? It is SO good. Some might say they can tell if a cake is not from scratch and I would love to test them on that with this cake. Once you add a stick of butter warmed with sugar and rum and saturate the cake with it, um, well, all I can taste is delicious.
The only modification I've made over the years is to put all of the nuts on the outside and not separate them into some for the batter and some for the topping. It's more of a caution in case someone is present that doesn't care for nuts; they can avoid them if they've not in the batter. Heck, give them to me!
I was pretty excited to use this new swirly Bundt pan too; one I've had for a bit but have had no inspiration to use. It's a lovely swirly pan but I worried about the cake coming out of it when done...and I should not have.
While I would normally use butter and flour on cake pans with parchment in the bottom of them, I took advantage of a product called Baker's Joy which is an aerosol that combines oil and flour in a spray for ease. It's so easy to spray the inside of an intricate pan like this, I might have to rethink that butter and flour business.
I'm sold...I flipped this puppy over, poked homes in the bottom of it and poured the sweet butter rum mixture all over the bottom so it could fill those holes and saturate the cake and then waited a couple of minutes...and when I flipped it over on a cake plate, it was magic, came out perfectly.
With my old standard Bundt pan, I would have simply placed the chopped walnuts (or use pecans if you prefer) in the bottom of the pan after preparing it and then poured the dough on top.
I knew that wouldn't work with this pan so if you use something other than a standard Bundt pan and want to follow my lead; dribble some of the sticky syrup along those crevices and sprinkle your toasted nuts on top of it; worked like a charm.
Does it Matter Which Type of Rum I Use?
Not really; I typically go with a darker rum to make sure the flavor comes through in the cake but I've used Bacardi's white rum too. Don't make a special trip; use what you have although I don't suggest a flavored rum or one with additional sugar.
How Long Will This Cake Last?
Because of the amount of liquid poured into the cake, one thing you don't have to worry about is having it dry out. I've made this Rum Cake with Butter Rum Glaze 2-3 days before a party and it's not only fine but I think the aging improves it! Best if you can let it sit for at least an hour once out of the oven before serving it.
PIN IT! 'Easy Rum Cake with Butter Rum Glaze'
