Popular in the Caribbean, rum cake is a vanilla cake that has rum in the batter.
Traditionally, dried fruit is soaked in rum for months and then added to the cake batter, but this is a more accessible homemade version.
Look for a robust rum that has lots of vanilla and spice flavour. A more subtle light rum won’t have a pronounced flavour after the cake bakes. When tightly wrapped in foil or plastic wrap, rum cake will last up to two weeks in the fridge.
For the cake:
125g unsalted butter
250g self-raising flour
60g walnuts, chopped
30g cornflour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
200ml whole milk
200ml dark rum
1 tbsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp vegetable oil
300g granulated sugar
1 x 75g packet creme caramel pudding
For the rum syrup:
125g unsalted butter
75ml water
150g granulated sugar
pinch of salt
100ml dark rum
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350° and grease and flour cake tin. Add chopped walnuts to bottom of pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix and pudding mix. Add eggs, melted butter, water, and rum and mix until combined.
Pour batter into bundt pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 1 hour. Let cool 10 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack.
While cake is still warm, make glaze: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, sugar, rum, and water. Let boil for 5 minutes.
Poke cake all over with a toothpick then brush cake with glaze. Let glaze soak in and repeat until you’ve used all glaze.