Rum Bundt Cake: Where have you been all my life?

I have a coworker who has become known for her Rum Cake at office functions, and I decided I needed to give this little number a whirl.

Let me tell you - when my non-cake-eating husband tells me it's pretty good, then I take notice. I'm entertaining the idea of making some of the small bundt size for the holidays... NordicWare has some beautiful pans!

Any way, here's the recipe... it's known commonly as the Bacardi Rum Cake.  I guess these things were all the rage a couple decades ago... and I'm here to say, let's bring these back!  Wow - so easy - and so delicious.  I'll have to try out making and freezing some - this has been highly recommended.

Guess I should have taken a photo before we "tasted" it, right? Oh well.

Rum Bundt Cake

1 cup chopped pecans **highly recommended**

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 small pkg. vanilla instant pudding mix (3.4 oz)

4 eggs

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup dark rum

Grease and flour a 12 c Bundt cake pan. Sprinkle half of the nuts over the bottom of pan. Combine all remaining ingredients and remaining nuts. Pour batter into pan over nuts.

Bake for 50-60 minutes at 325°F.

Start making glaze right before cake is to come out of oven.  You will apply the glaze while cake is warm.

When cake tester comes out clean, remove cake from oven. 

Glaze

1 stick butter

1/4 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/4 - 1/2 cup dark rum

Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool slightly and then stir in rum. 

While cake is still in pan, just out of oven: poke exposed bottom of the cake with fork or skewer.  Drizzle or brush with pastry brush generously.  Let cake sit 5 minutes, then invert onto cooking rack (with wax paper underneath the rack).  Prick top of cake with a fork or skewer, slowly drizzle or brush rest of glaze all over the rest of the warm cake.  You will have some significant glaze dripping onto the wax paper. 

Let cake rest several hours, then move carefully to serving plate/cake saver. Cover.

Let cake rest ideally overnight - cake improves with age - so this is a great make-ahead item.  Cake is room-temperature stable.  Several days out (if it actually makes it that long!), if cake dries somewhat, more rum may be sprinkled on it to add moisture.

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

The Perfect Go-To Frosting: An Amateur Baker's Quest, Part I

Background:

As a child, I remember watching adults scrape off the majority of the frosting on birthday cakes and the like, saying, "Oh! This is too sweet!"

"They're nuts!" I remember thinking to myself, as I quickly made my serving disappear with nary a complaint.

Fast forward (gulp!) 20+ years, and I have found the adults to be yet again proven correct... in most cases. Upon realizing my sweet tooth had changed, a vague awareness of cake frosting varieties surfaced: some remain a delight to the last mouthful, while others start almost stinging the mouth with sicky-sweetness only a few bites in. This mystery I must solve!

Life is too short to eat bad frosting. I have fewer and less opportunities (okay, let's get real - excuses) to make cakes and by golly, when I do, it had better taste amazing! My not-so-secret goal is to be the relative that everyone always hopes will bring dessert.

"Wow! You work full-time, have two kids, a dog, and a house to take care of... How DO you do it?" the imaginary flatteries will be uttered.

I have already realized what many a busy amateur baker has known for ages: you do not need 100 mediocre recipes, a few great ones, done well, will get the job done. So begins my quest for what will be my family's go-to cake frosting(s)!