With cooler days coming, my thoughts turn from the chilled, no-bake desserts of summer to ones that are filled with heavier, richer flavors. One of my favorites is made by my friend Lynda Steele Vincent, a master of cakes and other sweet confections.
Lynda is one of those cooks who loves to experiment and change out one ingredient for another while keeping the basic recipe the same. Such is the case with her rum cake. She's made it with limoncello to give it a sharp, lemony kick. And she's made it with 99 Bananas liqueur to give it a flavor that tasted like a banana Popsicle. And like everything she makes, it was delicious. But she always goes back to her rum cake because it's hard to beat.
"It's the stuff dreams are made of," Stacy White Irvin wrote about it on Facebook.
I couldn't agree more. Not only is the flavor spot-on, it's a breeze to make since you use a boxed cake mix. With all of the additional ingredients, however, you'll never know that the mix came out of a box.
With school back in session and the busyness of the season has begun, we're all looking for shortcuts. This recipe lets you have your cake and eat it to - pun intended.
It's the perfect cake for fall, as well as the holidays right around the corner. If you're not a fan of rum, experiment like Lynda does, substituting limoncello or 99 Bananas.
Nutty Rum Cake
Cake:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 box yellow cake mix
1 box instant vanilla pudding (small or large)
1/2 cup salad oil
1/2 cup water (see note)
1/2 cup light rum (see note)
5 eggs
Sauce:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup rum
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a Bundt cake pan, then cover bottom with nuts. Mix remaining cake ingredients together, but do not overbeat. Pour mixture over nuts, and bake 1 hour or until cake tests done. When cake is done, punch holes in cake with large fork. Loosen sides of cake so sauce can cover entire cake.
For sauce: Combine water, rum, butter and sugar, and bring to a strong simmer, stirring, for 5 minutes. Pour over cake, let cake cool, then remove cake from pan.
Note: This is the original recipe. Lynda Steele Vincent, though, uses less water and more rum. Yum!
Contact Anne Braly at abraly@timesfreepress.com or annebraly.com.
Anne Braly