Rum Cake from Scratch

Rum Cake from Scratch is dense, rich and soaked with flavorful thick butter rum sauce. Great for every party!

How to make Rum Cake from Scratch?

When I decided to make my first Rum Cake from scratch, I researched a lot of different recipes and finally used the one from King Arthur Flour. What intrigued me was their two-stage method for cakes instead of creaming method: you mix all dry ingredients together with half of the liquid. After about 2 minutes of mixing, add remaining liquid and mix some more. This should make a cake with very fine grain and moist texture. I tried it and I can testify that it really is true.

On the other hand, I changed a lot of other things in the recipe. When I baked this cake for the first time, during baking butter was bubbling up and it looked like the cake was “swimming” in a pool of grease. I don’t know whether it was a typo in the original recipe, but I think it is not necessary at all to use butter in the batter because 1/2 cup vegetable oil is just enough, so I completely omitted the butter. One should not forget that there is another 1/2 cup butter in sauce, as well.

Also, I omitted pecan meal, added a teaspoon of lemon juice to the batter and reduced amount of sugar in the sauce. But, most important change was that I wanted to make Rum Cake from scratch, and their recipe used instant pudding mix. So, I replaced it with 1/3 cup cornstarch and one additional egg (which has the role of emulsifier).

Years ago I learned a trick to oil the bundt cake pan (using pastry brush) and make sure every part has been well greased. Then sprinkle it with very fine dry bread crumbs. The pan should be completely coated so that the cake doesn’t stick. If you want your cake to be extra pretty, you can sieve the breadcrumbs (but that is optional). This will help you take the cake easier from the pan after baking and it will not leave ugly white parts as when you dust the pan with flour.

Bundt Cake Pan

In case the entire cake will not come out while inverting, cover the top of the pan (the tin side, not the cake side) with a kitchen towel soaked in cold water. It will help release the steam to help the cake unstick from the sides. Allow the cake to rest for few minutes. The cake will probably fall out of the pan onto the plate by itself. If it still doesn’t come out, use a knife to release the cake from the sides.

Almost every Rum Cake recipe tells you to leave the cake in the pan and take it out after soaking it with sauce. I’m always too curious to see whether my cake will get out of the pan easily, so immediately after baking I take a thin knife and GENTLY release it from sides and the central cone. Then I cover the bundt pan with a plate and invert the cake. If everything is OK, I return cake to the pan and proceed with the recipe.

With all these changes, in the end I got a cake that was dense, rich and soaked with flavorful thick butter rum sauce. I’m very pleased with it and will keep this recipe, for sure!

NOTE: In the video below I didn’t allow enough time for the cake to soak the rum sauce. I highly recommend you do that.

I’ve also made a chocolate version of this fabulous cake:

Chocolate Rum Cake

4.67 from 3 votes

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Rum Cake from Scratch

Rum Cake from Scratch is dense, rich and soaked with flavorful thick butter rum sauce. Great for every party!

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: rum cake from scratch

Servings: 1 large bundt cake or 2 smaller bundt cakes

Author: Kitchen Nostalgia

Ingredients

• RUM CAKE:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup dark rum
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon rum flavoring
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs, for dusting baking pan
• RUM BUTTER SAUCE:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (125 g)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup dark rum
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Using pastry brush, oil the bundt cake pan and sprinkle it with fine dry bread crumbs so that the cake doesn't stick. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. In another bowl, mix eggs with oil, milk, lemon juice, rum, vanilla extract and rum flavoring. Add half of this mixture to the dry ingredients and beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, or until the batter is smooth.

4. Add remaining liquid and beat for another minute or until you get smooth mixture. (This two-stage method will produce cake with very fine grain and moist texture).

5. Pour the batter into prepared bundt cake pan and bake in 350 F (175 C) oven for about 20 minutes. Rotate the Rum Cake, set the temperature to 300 F (150 C) and bake for another 20 minutes. Check with wooden skewer for doneness.

6. RUM BUTTER SAUCE: In a small saucepan, cook butter, water, sugar, rum and vanilla for a few minutes or until sugar dissolves.
7. After the cake has cooled a little, use a skewer to poke lots of holes (at least 20) all over the cake. SLOWLY pour half of the sauce over the cake. Let it rest until the sauce is absorbed, about 10 minutes.

8. Turn the Rum Cake out onto a serving plate and pour the remaining rum butter sauce over the cake. At this point either serve the cake, or cover it and until serving.

Recipe Video