The Cast of Characters: Yellow Cake Mix, Rum (dark or light will work), Vanilla Pudding Mix, Eggs, Canola Oil, Water, Sugar, and Butter.
And a Bundt cake pan would be nice.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Then pour the dry cake mix into a large mixing bowl.
Next, dump in the dry vanilla pudding mix.
Crack in four eggs.
Pour in 1/2 cup cold water…
1/2 cup canola oil…
And 1/2 cup rum. Dark rum is best—it’s what my mother-in-law uses—but I drank all my dark rum for breakfast before church yesterday morning and didn’t have any left.
I’m kidding. *Hiccup* I think.
Next, grab a big ol’ whisk…
And mix it together ’til smooth.
Measure a heaping cup of pecan halves. The recipe calls for “1 cup chopped pecans”, which means you chop the pecans, then measure. So I just measure a heaping cup of pecan halves, figuring once they’re all chopped up, they’ll compress to about a cup.
But then again, I’m pretty much a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants mess in the kitchen, so don’t listen to me.
Now just chop away!
I like to chop them pretty finely, because I have an aversion to big chunks of nuts in my desserts. I like ’em tiny.
But only in my desserts.
No hidden meaning in that remark.
And will you look at this! 1 cup of chopped pecans!
I feel like that Cajun chef, Justin…um…Justin something. He used to be able to pour a teaspoon of salt into his hand, and transfer the salt into a teaspoon, and I’ll be darned if it didn’t measure EXACTLY a teaspoon.
Only problem is, I’m not Cajun.
I’m also not a chef.
Next, you need to grease and flour your Bundt pan—which, in my world, means you grab the stuff in the blue can.
Look, I’m all for doing things from scratch, but this stuff WORKS. There are still a couple of baking recipes for which I won’t use this, but they’re getting fewer and farther between.
Here’s my Bundt pan; I’ve had it for years. If I had it to do over again, I’d prefer not to have a pan that’s black inside, because whatever’s baking seems to brown more quickly. But I don’t make Bundt cakes enough to really warrant buying a new one, so I usually decrease my baking time slightly.
Except this time. I forgot.
Go ahead and spray the heck out of the pan.
Next, sprinkle in the chopped pecans. Sometimes I also sprinkle some brown sugar over the nuts, but I forgot that, too.
But you feel free to remember, okay? It’s not part of the original recipe, so it’s entirely optional.
Now just pour the batter over the top of the nuts. Work slowly so you can distribute it evenly.
Use a rubber spatula…
To even out the top. You want the cake to bake evenly.
Now pop it into the oven for 1 hour—a little less if it’s a black pan. If you overbake it, the cake will be dry…and we don’t want that. Let the puddin’ be all that it can be.
When the cake has about ten minutes left, go ahead and start the rum glaze, which, of course, must start with butter. This is 1 stick (1/2 cup), but I wound up adding another 1/2 stick, totaling 3/4 cup.
Next, add 1/4 cup water…
And 1 1/2 cups sugar—a little more if you’re feeling dangerous.
Stir together…
And bring to a gentle boil. Continue cooking for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Turn off the burner so you won’t singe your eyebrows, and pour in 3/4 cup rum.
Stir together, then turn on the burner for thirty seconds, giving the new mixture a short boil. The mixture will be quite thin, but syrupy.
Time to take the cake out of the oven! And again, I forgot to decrease the baking time for my black pan. Ideally, the cake won’t be totally pulled away from the sides of the pan. But if it is, as long as it’s not burned, it’s fine.
Now the key here is to get the cake as moist as possible with the yummy, sweet glaze. In a minute, we’ll invert the cake, but before that, let’s drizzle about 1/3 of the glaze over the bottom (presently the top) of the cake.
Drizzle it on slowly to give it a chance to seep in, and also let it drip down the sides and middle of the cake pan. This glaze is going to provide some much-needed moisture.
Let it sit for five minutes to ensure that the glaze seeps in.
After five minutes, invert the cake by placing a cake plate upside down on top of the Bundt pan.
Holding on tightly, flip the pan over so that the Bundt pan is upside down on top of the cake plate.
And because of the nonstick baking spray we used, the pan will lift right off—no harm, no foul.
Hello, my beautiful love-muffin…I mean love-cake.
(You’ll notice that the part of the cake that was touching the black pan is on the verge of being overly brown. Not that that will stop me from gorging myself on it or anything.)
Next, grab a fork and begin pricking the cake with the tines. This is very important, because we want the glaze to be able to seep into the cake.
Just prick-prick-prick all over the sides and top.
All in all, I’d say I pricked the cake about a hundred times. And don’t be violent about it. Just sing your favorite song, gently poking and pricking along the way. By the time the first chorus is over, you’ll be done. Pricking.
I just can’t type that word any more. Sorry.
Next, begin drizzling the rum glaze over the top of the cake, allowing it to slowly drip down the sides.
Try to keep as much on the cake as possible, but some glaze WILL run down the sides and pool at the bottom of the cake.
The whole glazing process should take five to ten minutes or so. Be patient. You really want the glaze to sink into that cake.
And use every last drop from the pan.
Rum glaze is a terrible thing to waste.
Oh, Lord. How good does THIS look?
Now. This is important: Allow the cake to cool to room temperature, because it tastes better that way, and besides, the rum glaze needs to continue seeping into the cake.
And believe me, the wait is worth it..
Enjoy! This rum cake is perfect for holiday parties.
And I’m having it for breakfast tomorrow. Don’t tell anyone. It’s like the scene in Gone With the Wind when Rhett says to Scarlett, “I know you drink in private and I know how MUCH you drink. You think I care if you like your brandy?”
I’ll bet Scarlett regularly had rum cake for breakfast. Saucy little minx.
