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.
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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
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.
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 over the warm cake very slowly. Let it soak the syrup for 5 minutes. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Cut into slices and serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most of the rum that goes into the batter anyways gets cooked off while baking. 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 the cake without the glaze. The crumbs will be slightly dry in this case.
2. Make the glaze with rum extract and skip adding the rum.
No, this cake uses about 1 cup of rum in the entire cake, but most of the alcohol gets evaporated while baking, leaving only the flavor. Also, you are not eating the entire cake, just 1 or 2 slices, which will definitely not make you boozy.
You can use light olive oil instead of unsalted butter and any plant-based milk instead of dairy milk.
Replace per egg with 2 tablespoon of 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.
To make flax seeds eggs, mix ground flax seeds with little water.
Keep in mind that the use of substitutes can give you a little different taste and texture.
No, this cake is not for kids, as it still has some amount of alcohol.
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.
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Recipe Card
Bacardi Rum Cake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For The Cake
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- ¾ cup unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)
- 1 and ½ cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup milk
- ¾ cup Bacardi dark rum
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
For Rum Syrup
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup Bacardi dark rum
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
Preparation
- 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.
- Gather all the ingredients and make sure they are at room temperature.
Make The Cake
- Sprinkle walnuts in the base of the pan.
- Whisk butter and 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 use a hand-held mixer to whisk the butter and sugar.
- Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition.
- Add milk, Bacardi dark rum, and vanilla extract and mix well.
- Now add all-purpose flour, cornstarch, and baking powder to the bowl and mix until combined. Do not overmix after adding the dry ingredients. Just mix until everything comes together and then stop.
- Pour the batter in 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.
Make The Soaking Syrup
- Heat butter, sugar, Bacardi dark rum, and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat until syrupy (3-4 minutes).
Dress The Cake
- Pour the hot syrup over the warm cake very slowly. Let it soak the syrup for 5 minutes. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and cool completely.
- Cut into slices and serve.
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.
Sarah
I am going to try Rim cake but why use cornstarch? Can I use cake flour
Neha Mathur
A little cornstarch makes this cake light and fluffy. Cake flour also has cornstarch added to 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.
Debbie
I am going to make this rum cake for St. Patrick’s Day…..can I use Captain Morgan’s spiced rum or Mount Gay dark rum?
Neha Mathur
Yes, sure. Both will work fine.
Joellen
How do you remove it rom the pan, after yo pour the syrup on it!???
Neha Mathur
Just invert it on a plate, and it will slide out, just like other cakes.
DJC
I’m not sure if I did something wrong, but this cake turned out dry and tasteless. Kind of bland etc, and the walnuts were almost bitter, even though I’ve only had them in the freezer for 2 months. I’ll try the recipe 1 more time because I really want a good rum cake recipe!
Neha Mathur
This is a very tried and tested recipe DJC and it has always turned out good for many. Please follow it to the T. The measurements are very crucial so please use standard cups and spoon measures.
Shiji Chacko
Hi, could you add blueberries to the cake?
Neha Mathur
Yes, sure