Drunken Rummy Fruity Bundt Cake.

 
I love rum cake and I have most likely "The Best" recipe for rum cake.
 

This cake is extraordinarily moist, tender, rummy,and just plain absofreakin'lutely delicious. I think one of the ingredients - the homemade vanilla pudding mix - pushed this one past the limits. 

You must try it.
Seriously.
Has Rosie ever led you astray?

Then I started thinking.  Which is a potentially dangerous thing.
I thought, "How can I make this even better?"
I didn't think it could be done, but it can!

I made my original rum cake, then cooked some strawberries and cherries with sugar and used the fruit syrup to infuse the cake.  And it was a winner!

Rum Cake

Cake:

1 3/4 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature 

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 TB oil (I used canola oil.)

2/3 cup vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs, room temperature

3/8 cup skim milk

3/8 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup dark rum (I used Cruzan.)
1/2 cup oil

1 TB vanilla 

Vanilla pudding mix:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
3/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp kosher salt
2 whole vanilla beans 

Whisk together the sugar, dry milk powder, cornstarch, and salt.
Split open vanilla beans and scrape seeds into sugar mixture, whisking to combine evenly.  
Cut pods into pieces, place in airtight container, and add sugar mixture.  Mix well to combine.
Store in fridge.

Rum Syrup:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

pinch kosher salt

1/2 cup dark rum

 Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in sugar and water and boil about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove pan from heat and stir in rum.  Once mixed in, return pan to heat and heat through, about 30 seconds.

 

Fruit Syrup:

1 cup chopped strawberries

1 cup chopped cherries

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Mix all ingredients in small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until simmering and sugar has dissolved.  Reduce liquid a bit to concentrate flavors.

Directions:

For the cake:

Heat oven to 325°.

Grease and flour Bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.

Using electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.  Stir in flour mixture and 3 TB oil and mix for about 2 minutes.  Add the pudding mix (without the vanilla beans), at medium-low speed, until combined.

In another bowl, whisk eggs, skim milk, cream, rum, 1/2 cup oil, and vanilla extract.  Add this mixture to butter mixture and beat until thoroughly combined, about 3 minutes.

Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan and bake 50-60 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

When the cake is done, immediately and SLOWLY pour about 2/3 cup rum syrup and 1/2 the fruit syrup over bottom of cake.  (The cake is still in the bundt pan.)  Let seep in for 5 minutes.

Invert cake onto serving platter.  Using skewer, poke holes all over the cake - top, sides, inside.  SLOWLY pour remaining rum syrup and some of the remaining fruit syrup over top of cake, allowing it to drip down sides and soak into cake.  Pour and rest.  Let the syrup soak in.  You don't want all the syrup pooling at the bottom, so go slowly.  Pour and rest.  Poke more holes.  Pour and rest.  Save some of the fruit and fruit syrup for individual slices.

Cool to room temperature before serving.
If you can wait.

Slowly pour the rum syrup over the bottom of the cake.

Slowly pour the fruit syrup over the bottom of the cake.
Let it soak in.

Invert cake onto serving platter and poke holes - lots of 'em - on the top, on the outside, and on the inside of the cake - all over.

Pokey pokey.
Pour. Pour.

Slowly pour the remaining syrups over the cake, letting them soak in.

YES!!!!

Save some of the fruit syrup and berries for the individual slices.

This is Exquisite.
With a capital E.

Rosie is in her Happy Place.

You MUST make this.

You'll be glad you did.

Another "Trust Rosie" moment.

Rosie Makes A Rum Cake.

Do you want the best recipe ever for rum cake?

I found it.

I was going through my "to-do" list file of recipes

and I found exactly what I was looking for.

This cake is extraordinarily moist, tender, rummy,

and just plain absofreakin'lutely delicious.

I think the homemade vanilla pudding mix

pushed this one past the limits.

The rum syrup on the bottom might have helped in that department.

As did the rum syrup poured over top.

This is a total win-win situation.

And here's the recipe:

Rum Cake

Cake:

1 3/4 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature 

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 TB oil (I used canola oil.)

2/3 cup vanilla pudding mix, vanilla pods picked out (Recipe below.)

4 eggs, room temperature

3/8 cup skim milk

3/8 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup dark rum (I used Cruzan.)
1/2 cup oil

1 TB vanilla 

Vanilla pudding mix:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
3/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp kosher salt
2 whole vanilla beans 

Whisk together the sugar, dry milk powder, cornstarch, and salt.
Split open vanilla beans and scrape seeds into sugar mixture, whisking to combine evenly.  
Cut pods into pieces, place in airtight container, and add sugar mixture.  Mix well to combine.
Store in fridge.

Rum Syrup:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

pinch kosher salt

1/2 cup dark rum

Directions:

For the cake:

Heat oven to 325°.

Grease and flour Bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.

Using electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.  Stir in flour mixture and 3 TB oil and mix for about 2 minutes.  Add the pudding mix, medium-low speed, until combined.

In another bowl, whisk eggs, skim milk, cream, rum, 1/2 cup oil, and vanilla extract.  Add this mixture to butter mixture and beat until thoroughly combined, about 3 minutes.

Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan and bake 50-60 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Make rum syrup:
 Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in sugar and water and boil about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Turn off heat and stir in rum.  Once mixed in, return pan to heat and heat through, about 30 seconds.

When the cake is done, immediately and SLOWLY pour about 2/3 cup rum syrup over bottom of cake.  Let seep in for 5 minutes.

Invert cake onto serving platter.  Using skewer, poke holes all over the cake - top, sides, inside.  SLOWLY pour remaining rum syrup over top of cake, allowing it to drip down sides and soak into cake.  Pour and rest and let the syrup soak in.  You don't want the syrup pooling at the bottom.  Pour and rest.  Pour and rest.

Cool to room temperature before serving.
If you can wait.

And, you're welcome.

You may thank me later.

Rosie Makes A Rum Cake And A Citrusy Pound Cake.

Rosie received some wonderful scones, among other things, in a foodie Christmas basket from a Brother-In-Law Hawthorne. I'd never had scones before and I really liked these sweet, cake-like concoctions - so much so, that I wanted to re-create them. I turned to Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours. And I got side-tracked by a recipe she had for Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes. I am easily distracted. So I'm tabling the scones for later and making some really delicious vanilla cakes two ways - one is with the rum, the other is with lemon and orange. I figured the adults would enjoy the rum cakes and the Little Hawthornes would enjoy the citrus cakes. The texture of this cake is perfect - very similar to a Sara Lee pound cake in that respect. It has a very fine crumb - soft, even, and tightly knit. But this cake delivers a flavor that you could never get with Sara Lee or Sandra Lee for that matter.

The recipe below is Dorie's. Since I'm making two types of vanilla cakes, I'll be making a few adjustments.

Ingredients for Vanilla Cakes: 2 2/3 cup flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder pinch of salt 2 1/3 cups sugar 2 plump, moist vanilla beans, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved 6 large eggs, at room temp 2/3 cup heavy cream 2 1/2 TB dark rum 1 stick plus 7 TB unsalted butter, melted For the Syrup: 1/3 cup water 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup dark rum Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pans and dust with flour, shaking out excess. Rosie surprisingly doesn't own two loaf pans - only one - but she does have a bunch of aluminum 6 x 3 1/2-inch pans. So she's making the citrusy cake in the large loaf pan and two rum cakes in the smaller aluminum pans. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Put the sugar and pulp from the vanilla beans in a large bowl and, working with your fingers, rub them together until the sugar is moist and thoroughly imbued with the fragrance of the vanilla. Add the eggs, whisking them into the sugar and beating until thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the cream. Here's where Rosie made a slight deviation. At this point, Dorie calls for the rum to be added. So Rosie halved the batter. I measured and had 4 cups of batter so I set aside 2 cups in another bowl for the citrus cake. I measured the sifted flour mixture - 2 1/2 cups and set aside 1 1/4 cups for the citrus cake. 15 tablespoons of butter is just shy of 1 cup, so halve that too. Back to the rum cake: Pour the rum into the batter. I used 1 TB of rum. (A little over half.) Gently stir in dry ingredients in 3 or 4 additions. The batter will be thick and smooth. Finish by pouring in the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions. Pour into pans, smoothing the tops. Bake 55 - 60 minutes until tester comes out clean. Meanwhile, make the syrup. Stir water and sugar together in saucepan over medium heat until the sugar melts, then bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour in the rum. I used a half recipe of the rum syrup. Then I took the remaining 2 cups of batter, added in the remaining 1 1/3 cups of flour mixture, and the melted butter - just shy of 1/2 cup. I then added 1 TB fresh orange juice and 1 TB fresh lemon juice and the zest of 1 orange and and 1 lemon. When cakes are done, let cool on racks for 5 minutes before turning them right side up. Using a thin skewer, poke holes all over the rum cakes. Brush the rum syrup over the cakes, working slowly so the cakes sop it up. Let cool to room temperature.

Let's bake a cake, shall we?

Split the vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape the seeds out. And that's not a dirty fingernail. It's vanilla seeds.

Add vanilla to sugar ...

... and rub with fingers to thoroughly mix.

Add eggs to sugar and vanilla, beating after each addition.

You know how I love my egg shots.

Add in cream. This is where I halved my batter.

Add in the rum.

I sifted my flour, baking powder, and salt and measured out half - 1 1/3 cups ...

... which I added to my batter.

I whipped in 1/2 the melted butter - just short 1/2 cup.

Spread the batter into two small loaf pans (3 1/2 x 6-inch) or one large pan (8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch) and start on the other cake.

The remaining 1/2 of the batter goes back into the bowl. Zest a lemon and an orange then squeeze out 1 TB lemon juice and 1 TB orange juice.

Juice in. Fresh only, please.

Remaining 1 1/3 cups flour in.

Remaining butter in.

Zest in.

Pour into 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. Spread evenly.

Into a 350 degree oven for about an hour. Until a tester comes out clean. While the cakes are baking, I prepared the rum syrup.

I'm halving the recipe. 1/6 cup water 1/8 cup sugar 1/8 cup dark rum Just eyeball it.

Stir the sugar and water over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

Then bring the solution to a boil.

Remove from heat and pour in the rum.

Cool about 5 minutes in pan before turning out onto wire racks.

Poke holes with a skewer and slowly brush rum syrup over top.

Little rum cake on the left. Citrus cake on the right.

I loved the texture - tiny, compact crumb and the slices are both firm and supple.

As I said earlier, the rum cakes were supposed to be for Mr. Hawthorne and me, and the citrus cake was for the Little Hawthornes. Didn't work out that way. I think Middle Hawthorne ate an entire rum cake that night. He might have had help, but I didn't see it. The second rum cake was gone by morning. I think I had one bite. The citrus cake was excellent as well.

If you ever need a superior pound cake recipe, this is it.