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Tomiko and Donatello used to work on cruise ships for several years, and I flew down to visit them in the Caribbean once. In the Cayman Islands I tried some delicious Rum Cake, which was sold in boxes piled high in almost every store. This recipe is the closest thing to that buttery Tortuga Rum Cake. It’s the plain variety, rather than chocolate or raisin, so you can fully appreciate the rum (and butter!) flavour. I found the Almost Tortuga Rum Cake recipe as soon after I came back from the Caribbean, and made it a few times before I altered it to the recipe here. The original recipe called for Whaler’s Vanille Rum, but we couldn’t find that in the Ontario liquor stores, so I bumped up the vanilla extract, used my vanilla sugar, and opted for golden rum. Make sure you use real butter and quality rum, since the flavour depends on using the best ingredients.
It’s best to make this cake the day before you need it, since the cake needs the time to absorb all the buttered rum glaze (don’t worry about the amount of glaze – the cake will absorb it!). The extra time also allows all the flavours to meld and the moisture to be relatively even by the time you cut and serve it.
- 2 cups flour
- 1½ cups white sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup butter, cut into pieces (about 1cm
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- 1 103-g package instant vanilla pudding mix
- ½ cup milk
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup golden rum
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup butter
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup golden rum
- In a large bowl, combine Dry Cake Mix ingredients.
- On low speed, combine ingredients until the mixture is the consistency of sand, and all particles are generally the same size.
- This mix can be made ahead and stored for up to 3 months in the refrigerator.
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Grease a large Bundt pan (12-cup capacity).
- Sprinkle chopped nuts onto bottom of the pan.
- Place dry cake mix, pudding mix, milk, eggs, rum, vegetable oil, and vanilla in a large bowl. Combine on slow speed until just mixed, about 30 seconds.
- Increase the mixing speed to medium and beat for 2-3 minutes, until the batter is smooth and cream-coloured. Scrape down the bowl halfway to make sure everything is well incorporated.
- Scrape the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake for about 55 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and place on cooling rack while you make the Buttered Rum Glaze.
- Combine butter, water, and sugars in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat.
- Turn the heat down and simmer until sugar is dissolved and syrup thickens, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rum.
- While the cake is cooling in its tin, brush the cake with the syrup until the syrup is all used up.
- Let the cake cool completely before turning it out onto a platter, although it's best if you let it sit for a few hours to fully absorb all the syrup.
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Oh wow, this cake sounds amazing! Pinning to try. I would love for you to come share this and any of your other posts at What’d You Do This Weekend? The party is open now at http://joylovefood.com/whatd-you-do-this-weekend-10/ 🙂
love this recipe love all thing cake pinned and yummed following from pretty pintastic party have a great Easter
What a tasty sounding cake! I can’t wait to try it. Thanks for linking up to Snickerdoodle Sunday!
This looks so delicious that I had to pin it for myself! Thanks for linking up to Pretty Pintastic Party, where every post gets pinned. Sarah, Sarah Sofia Productions
I made this recipe over the weekend with rum we brought back from a February trip to Jamaica! It is delicious and definitely similar to the packaged Tortuga cake sold all over the Caribbean, but even better, I think. It took much longer to bake for me than the recipe said, about 15 more minutes for a total of 70 minutes, even in my convection oven. I kept testing it with a small knife until it came out with moist crumbs instead of goop! I used a silicone bundt pan, so perhaps that made a difference, rather than metal. I poked holes in the underside of the cake with a wooden skewer before brushing on the glaze, so it would soak in more. I remember this from a rum cake recipe I made a long time ago. Also, this makes a lot of glaze, so I saved some and poured it over the individual slices when I served it. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly, except for leaving out the nuts by accident! I will definitely make this cake again!
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