Bacardi Rum Cake

I don’t know where your parents stored the liquor, but in my house, it was in the cupboard above the stove. I’m assuming they kept it there because they thought it was out of reach. Luckily for me, I worked miracles with a yardstick and a catcher’s mitt.

Check any caker’s liquor cabinet or cupboard and guaranteed you’ll find a bottle of rye, a bottle of rum and, if it’s near Christmas, a bottle of Bailey’s. Sometimes, you’ll find Blue Curaçao, but only if someone needed to make Blue Lagoon punch for a baby shower.

This delicious Bacardi Rum Cake packs a doozey of boozey – there’s a full cup of rum in this Bundt! If you start telling dirty limericks to your company after finishing a slice, don’t say you weren’t warned.

By the way, while most caker food manages to hit every branch of the ugly tree on its way down, this here Bundt is about the purdiest thing I’ve ever featured. Just look at it! I’ve decided to enter it into the International World Bundt pageant held every year in Monaco. Keep your fingers crossed. Grand prize is a bottle of Kahlua.

Cake:

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1 18 ½-ounce package yellow cake mix

1 4-ounce package JELL-O vanilla instant pudding mix

4 eggs

½ cup cold water

½ cup oil

½ cup Bacardi dark rum (See note 1)

Glaze:

¼ lb. butter

¼ cup water

1 cup sugar

½ cup Bacardi dark rum

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour 10-inch Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour batter over nuts. Bake 1 hour. Invert on serving plate. Prick top. Drizzle and smooth glaze over top and sides (See note 2). Allow cake to absorb glaze. Repeat until glaze is used up.

For glaze, melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in rum.

Options: Decorate with whole maraschino cherries and border of sugar frosting or whipped cream. Serve with seedless green grapes dusted with powdered sugar (See note 3).

Note 1: I mistakenly bought Captain Morgan. Must've been the pirate uniform.

Note 2: Put the cake on a wire rack with a plate underneath. That way, you’ll catch all the drippings.

Note 3: Only do this if your name is Martha Stewartson.

Source: Celebration Cookbook, Canadian Bible Society, 2006