Bacardi Rum Cake

Do you believe in ghosts? I do. Strange things happen to me. For instance, last summer when it was way too hot to cook, I suddenly started thinking about a Christmas years and years ago that I spent with my elderly great aunt (one of my grandmother's sisters). I had found a recipe in a magazine for rum cake that I wanted to try. We felt very wicked as we soaked the cake in a glaze that had actual rum, not rum flavoring in it. I hadn't thought about that cake in decades. It was very weird. About a week after that, I was half-heartedly straightening up my basement, more in an effort to escape the heat than for cleanliness when I found a magazine from 1980 and on the back of it was the recipe for rum cake. Are you getting goosebumps? I did.

Aunt E passed away in 1988. I made the cake this holiday season in her memory. The original recipe uses a yellow cake mix. I no longer make cake mix cakes so I substituted a yellow cake recipe that closely approximated it. I added an egg to bring it up to 4 eggs and used milk instead of water and Crisco instead of oil. It is supposed to bake for 1 hour but it was overdone after 50 minutes. The resulting crust made it difficult to soak in the glaze. It was well worth the effort though. Thank you, Aunt E for reminding me of this wonderful cake and that wonderful holiday we spent together.

A word of caution. If you are like me and like to lick the beaters and/or the bowl, be careful. This is made with rum. It is possible to get a buzz from cake batter!

Verdict: Yum! This one's a keeper.

Bacardi Rum Cake

(Source: Woman's Day Great Holiday Baking Ideas, December 1980)

Cake:
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 18 1/2 oz. pkg. yellow cake mix*
1 3 3/4 oz. pkg. Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding and Pie Filling
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup Wesson oil
1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum (80 proof)

*If using yellow cake mix with pudding already in the mix: omit instant pudding, use 3 eggs instead of 4, 1/3 cup oil instead of 1/2.

Glaze:
1/4 lb. butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum (80 proof)

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and flour 10" tube or 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour batter over nuts. Bake 1 hour. Cool. Invert on serving plate. Prick top. Spoon and brush glaze evenly over top and sides. Allow cake to absorb glaze. Repeat till glaze is used up.

Glaze: Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in rum.

Optional: Decorate with border of sugar frosting or whipped cream.

Recycle: rum bottle

Compost: eggshells