A deliciously moist cake drenched with dark rum, Bacardi rum cake is a tender cake with great crumbs. Make it from scratch (or cake mix) for a family get-together, Christmas, or holidays.

About This Recipe

Bacardi rum cake is a tender, moist, and mouth-watering cake loaded with rum and butter cake flavors. This rich and buttery cake has a lightly smoky flavor from the dark rum and a lovely crunch from the walnuts.

It is made using simple pantry staples and comes together in just 15 minutes of active working time. It is a great dessert to make for house parties, family dinners, tea parties, or holiday celebrations.

Bacardi published this recipe in the ’70s and it is one of the most popular cakes made all around the world since then. Many people came up with their own variation of the basic recipe and there are multiple versions floating on the internet now.

In today’s post, I am sharing my own version of this super popular Bacardi Rum Cake. I make this cake from scratch but you can also make it using a box mix. Check out this recipe.

Try my other cake recipes as well

• Cinnamon Apple Cake
• Chocolate Lava Mug Cake

Ingredients

Bacardi Dark Rum – Bacardi rum is the star ingredient of this recipe. It makes this cake unique and different from others.

You can also use other dark rum like 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 – Walnuts add a lovely crunch to the soft cake. You can replace them with pecans, pistachios, or almonds. You can add some chopped nuts to the batter too for extra crunch.

Flour – The base of this cake is made with all-purpose flour. You can also use whole wheat flour, but the taste and texture will differ a bit.

Other Ingredients – Other than the above-mentioned ingredients, you will need cornstarch, baking powder, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.

You can substitute eggs with ingredients like yogurt, applesauce, ground flax seeds, etc for an eggless version.

You can add a little orange zest or lemon zest to the batter for a zesty taste.

How To Make Bacardi Rum Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F (180 Degrees C). Grease a 10-inch bundt pan with any neutral oil. Make sure to grease all the crevices for the cake to come out easily after baking.

Dust the pan with dry flour all over and discard the excess flour. Sprinkle 1 cup crushed walnuts in the base of the pan.

Whisk ¾ cup unsalted butter (room temperature) and 1 and ½ cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy. I used my stand mixer at medium speed for 5-6 minutes.

Keep scraping the sides of the bowl while whisking. You can also use a hand-held mixer to whisk the butter and sugar.

Add 4 eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition.

Add ½ cup milk, ¾ cup Bacardi dark rum, and 2 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix well.

Now add 2 cups of all-purpose flour, ¼ cup cornstarch, and 3 teaspoon baking powder to the bowl and mix until combined. Do not overmix after adding the dry ingredients. Just mix until everything comes together.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly using a silicon spatula.

Put the pan in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and keep it aside.

Start making the soaking syrup as soon as the cake is out of the oven. Heat ½ cup unsalted butter, ½ cup sugar, ¼ cup Bacardi dark rum, and ¼ cup water in a saucepan over medium-high heat until syrupy (3-4 minutes).

Pour the hot syrup very slowly over the warm cake while it is still in the pan. Let it soak the syrup for 5 minutes.

Now transfer the cake to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Cut into slices and serve.

Frequently Asked Questions

Serving Suggestions

Rum Cake tastes delicious warm, at room temperature, or chilled. You can serve it warm, right out of the oven or you can eat it right out of the refrigerator too.

You can serve it as a dessert for your house parties or just enjoy a slice of this Bacardi 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 it 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.