Here’s how to make your own holiday rum cake from scratch

Where do I even begin with my love affair with rum cake? I don’t remember the first time I had it, but I can’t even remember a time in my life where I didn’t know what it was. I remember wanting to bring it to bake sales and holiday parties as a young kid, and my parents wishing that there was a different cake I would bring for other kids to eat. But it was rum cake. It was always rum cake.

What is rum cake, you may ask? Well, it is a yellow cake enhanced with dark rum and soaked in a buttered rum sauce. It is moist and rich, and the rum sauce makes this dessert a perfect holiday treat.

The original recipe is my grandmother’s. We don’t know where she got it from, but she passed it down to my mom, and my mom has passed it down to me. The original recipe used a box cake mix and included chopped pecans on the top of the cake. Growing up, I never enjoyed the nuts. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t like them. I would always request a version that didn’t have any nuts. Just cake, and sauce. 

As you may have noticed, I have really connected to my roots. I’ve been making some of my grandma’s old recipes for the first time, and re-creating other ones. With this rum cake, I wanted to find a way to make the entire cake from scratch, without losing the perfection of the original recipe. I knew this was going to take a lot of practice, and I needed to make sure I used a yellow cake recipe that would be sure to wow my family. After quite a bit of recipe testing, I do believe I’ve created a perfectly fluffy, moist and delicious rum cake recipe — completely from scratch. 

The picture shows these as mini cakes, which I love for holiday parties, and everyone can get their own cake. But when we serve this cake on Christmas, we put it in one Bundt pan and serve it in grandma’s traditional style.

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Rum Cake

Preparation time: 80 minutes

Servings: 1 Bundt cake

INGREDIENTS

Rum cake

• 3½ cup cake flour, sifted
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
• ½ cup dark rum
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup salted butter, room temperature
• ⅓ cup canola oil
• 1¾ cup baker’s sugar
• 5 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks, room temperature
• ½ cup chopped pecans (optional)

Rum glaze

• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• ⅓ cup rum
• 2 tablespoons water

STEPS

Rum cake

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Spray a large Bundt pan or mini Bundt pans with baking spray. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
4. In a small bowl, mix the sour cream, rum and vanilla extract. Set aside.
5. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, canola oil and sugar on high until light and fluffy. This will take 4-5 minutes.
6. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add the eggs and egg yolks one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition.
7. Reduce the speed to low. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture and mix well (about 10 seconds). Add half of the sour cream and rum mixture and mix well. Follow this with another ⅓ of the flour mixture, the rest of the sour cream and then the final third of the flour mixture. Beat on low until fully incorporated.
8. Pour the cake batter into the Bundt pan(s), and tap on the counter to remove any air bubbles. (Note: If using pecans, add them to the bottom of the Bundt pan and then pour the cake batter over the pecans.)
9. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes if using mini Bundt pans, and 40 minutes if using a large Bundt pan.
10. Remove cake from oven and let cool in pan for about 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.

Rum glaze

1. Making the glaze should happen right before serving the rum cake.
2. In a small pot over medium heat, combine butter and sugar, stirring constantly.
3. Once sugar has completely dissolved, add rum and stir constantly.
4. Continue to cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture should be quite thick and golden in color.
5. If the mixture is too thick, add water one tablespoon at a time to thin out to desired consistency.

The assembly

1. Using a toothpick, poke holes into the top, sides and bottom of the rum cake.
2. Spoon glaze over cake until entire cake is covered in glaze.
3. Let sit for 5 to 8 minutes until glaze has been completely absorbed by the cake.
4. Serve with eggnog for an extra festive treat!

Enjoy!