A deliciously moist cake drenched with rum, Rum Cake is a tender cake with great crumbs. Make it from scratch for a family get together, Christmas or holidays. Here is how to make it.
My other cake recipes like Vanilla Pound Cake, Gingerbread Cake, Lemon Pound Cake, and Cinnamon Apple Cake are also loved by many. Do check them out as well.
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About This Recipe
Rum Cake is the most tender, moist, and mouth-watering cake that is drenched in rum flavor that balances the sweetness.
The best part, this marvelous cake is completely made from scratch, interesting, right?
The use of Dark Rum adds a nice smoky and intense flavor in the cake, which makes it irresistible. It also makes this cake flavorfull, moist, and adds a tender crumb to your cake.
The base of rum cake is prepared using all-purpose flour and other basic ingredients that are used to make a cake. It is then drenched in a rum syrup, which creates the magic. The rum syrup is made using dark rum, butter, sugar syrup, and water.
Not only house parties, but this also is a delightful dessert to serve for weekly family dinners, fancy dinner parties, or Christmas/holiday celebrations. Also for birthday parties, maybe just for adults. HAHA!
This Rum Cake is,
- Light
- Super moist
- Made from scratch
- Buttery
- Easy to make
- Have bold rum flavor
Ingredients
This old school sponge cake is made with regular ingredients such as,
Dark Rum – This is the star ingredient, that makes this rum cake unique and different from others. It has a bold rum flavor, that tastes just amazing with the moist and spongy cake.
Make sure to use a good quality rum for the best taste.
You can use any dark rum you like the most for this cake. I used Old Monk which is my all-time fav dark rum.
You can also use Bacardi dark rum or Meyer’s dark rum. Spiced rum-like captain morgan or coconut rum like Malibu also works well in this recipe. You can also use half malibu and half white rum or only white rum to make this cake.
Walnuts – To add a little crunch, I have added walnuts. You can also go for pecan or even almonds.
Other Ingredients – Other Than dark rum, we will need basic ingredients required for baking a cake, such as – all-purpose flour, corn starch, baking powder, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.
You can also use other flour such as whole wheat flour for a healthy alternative, but the taste and texture will differ a bit.
Baking Powder helps the cake to rise. You can also substitute eggs with other ingredients such as yogurt, applesauce, ground flax seeds, etc for an eggless version.
You can also add orange zest or lemon zest in this cake batter, to make it extra taste and flavourful.
Step by Step Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F (180 Degrees C). Grease and dust a bundt pan. Sprinkle crushed walnuts in the pan.
Whisk butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time and mix well after each addition.
Add milk, rum and vanilla extract and mix well.
Now add all-purpose flour, cornstarch and baking powder and mix until combined.
Pour the batter in the prepared pan.
Bake for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven.
Heat the ingredients to make the rum syrup until syrupy.
Pour the hot syrup over the cake very slowly. Let it soak the syrup for 5 minutes. Transfer it on a cooling rack and cool completely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can add nuts in this Rum Cake. I have added walnuts but you can add in nuts of your choice.
I have added walnuts in the bundt pan directly, instead of adding it in the batter. Apart from giving a nice crunch to the cake, it also prevents the cake from sticking to the pan. You can use pecans, almonds, or pistachios as well.
Most of the rum that goes in the batter anyways get cooked off while baking the cake. So the cake is almost alcohol-free with just the rum flavor.
However, the glaze has a lot of uncooked rum in it.
So there are two options to make it alcohol-free,
1. Don’t pour the glaze over the cake and serve it just as it is. However, the crumbs will be slightly dry.
2. Make the glaze with rum extract and skip the rum.
This cake uses about 1 cup of rum in the entire cake, which has a strong flavor. But then you are not eating the entire cake, just 1 or 2 slices, which will not make you boozy.
You can use olive oil instead of unsalted butter and any plant-based or nut milk instead of dairy milk.
To prepare it without eggs, you can use other substitutes such as Apple Sauce, Flax Seed Eggs, Yogurt, or Silken Tofu. If using sweetened apple sauce, decrease the amount of sugar, as the sauce adds enough sweetness to the batter.
The use of substitutes can give you a little different taste and texture, especially when you use ground Flax Seeds.
Serving Suggestions
This Rum Cake tastes delicious both warm and at room temperature. You can serve it warm, right out of the oven or you can eat it right out of the refrigerator too.
This cake is not for kids, as it has a good amount of alcohol. You can serve it as a dessert for your house parties or just enjoy a slice of this Rum Cake whenever the hunger strikes.
This is also a delicious birthday cake, for an adult.
Storage Suggestions
This cake freezes beautifully. Just wrap it twice in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil, and place in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
The reason for so many layers is to avoid getting any air into the cake. The day you want to serve it, thaw in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, or at room temperature.
Make sure you do not unwrap or take out the cake from the layers until it is completely thawed.
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Recipe Card
Rum Cake Recipe
Equipment
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnuts (Chopped)
- 3/4 cup Unsalted Butter (Room temperature)
- 1 and 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 3/4 cup Dark Rum
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1/4 cup Corn Starch
- 3 tsp Baking Powder
For Rum Syrup
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
- 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 cup Dark Rum
- 1/4 cup Water
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven to 350 Degrees F (180 Degrees C).
- Grease and dust a bundt pan.
- Sprinkle crushed walnuts in the pan.
- Whisk butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time and mix well after each addition.
- Add milk, rum and vanilla extract and mix well.
- Now add all purpose flour, cornstarch and baking powder and mix until combined.
- Pour the batter in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove the pan from the oven.
- Heat the ingredients to make the rum syrup until syrupy.
- Pour the hot syrup over the cake very slowly.
- Let the cake soak the syrup for 5 minutes.
- Transfer the cake on a cooling rack and cool completely.
Senta
I will be trying this recipe. Isnt 3 tsp baking powder too much?
Neha Mathur
It’s perfect for the amount of flour. Do try. It’s a fab recipe.
Senta
Hi Neha
I tried the rum cake recipe. The taste was awesome. The steps were simple and easy to follow. The walnuts added more flavour to the cake. Thanks Neha for this superb recipe.
Neha Mathur
It’s one of my fav cakes. Happy that you liked it too 🙂
Ess
Hi there
I like your recipe. It looks like a keeper! My question do you think it would work as a layer cake? 2 8 inch pans?
Neha Mathur
It will definitely work Ess. This is a fabulous recipe. You must definitely try it.
Renato Parreira
I have copied the recipe to try it, it seems to be a delicious, moist and very aromatic cake. I like the pan, what is the model by nordicware?
Neha Mathur
Hi Renato, this recipe is a keeper. The pan is very old and unfortunately I don’t remember the model number.