This easy homemade Rum Cake recipe is made from scratch and topped with a delicious homemade glaze.
I love that this rum cake is a classic dessert recipe but it’s also unique and always a crowd favorite. Some of my other favorite classic, crowd pleasing desserts include: Texas Sheet Cake, No-bake Cheesecake, and Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Filling.
Rum Cake
The name of this cake is pretty much self-explanatory, but I would add that whether or not you like rum, you’ll probably love this cake! It’s basically a yellow cake with a hint of rum flavor, and then a delicious rum glaze is poured on top, soaking into the cake and creating a delicious glazed layer all over the outside of the cake..
If you’re weary about adding alcohol to the cake I also offer substitutions to make it alcohol free.
What I LOVE About this Rum Cake recipe:
- It’s made from scratch, with real ingredients.
- That rum cake glaze keeps it moist inside and adds a yummy glaze layer to the outside.
3 Steps to perfect rum glaze sauce:
- Add sauce ingredients to a saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir well until butter has melted and mixture is smooth. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring, and boil for 2 minutes.
- Remove cake from oven and allow it to cool for a few minutes. Poke holes all over and pour sauce over it.
Does Rum Cake Contain Alcohol?
Though there is rum in both the cake and sauce, a lot of it cooks off during the baking/heating process. That being said, the conventional saying that “all” of the alcohol cooks out during baking isn’t completely true. However, the longer something is cooked and the hotter the temperature, the greater percentage of alcohol that will evaporate.
To be sure that the greatest percent of alcohol cooks off when making the rum cake sauce, use a pan with a large surface area. The larger the surface area under heat, the greater percentage of alcohol that will cook off. A sauce that is simmering or boiling at about 172 degrees F for 20-30 seconds should evaporate the alcohol.
Can I make Rum Cake Alcohol Free?
Yes. If you’re looking to omit the alcohol completely from this recipe, you could add 1 teaspoon of rum extract to the cake batter.
What kind of rum should I use?
This is a decision that you alone will ultimately have to make, depending on your preferences and the flavor that you are looking for. I prefer to use Bicardi Gold or dark Myer’s rum.
Rum cake can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I love to pop a slice in the microwave for 15 seconds to reheat it before eating, although it’s yummy cold as well.
Freezer instructions:
Bake the cake but do not make the glaze sauce. Allow the cake to cool completely and store covered well in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw the cake completely by allowing it to sit in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to eat, make the sauce, poke holes in the cake and gently pour the glaze on top. Allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes before serving.
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Recipe
Homemade Rum Cake
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup milk , room temperature
- 1/3 cup sour cream , room temperature (light or regular)
- 1/3 cup rum (Bicardi Gold or Dark Myer's rum, or your favorite kind)
- 1 cup butter , room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 large eggs , room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks , room temperature
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Sauce:
- ½ cup butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup rum
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Whisk the milk, sour cream and rum together in a liquid measure and let come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and make sure an oven rack is placed in the middle of the oven.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer whip the butter on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and beat for 4-5 minutes more. Mix in the vanilla.
- Add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, mixing just until combined in between additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Combine the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add ⅓ of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix just until combined. Add ½ of the milk/sour cream mixture and mix.
- Add another ⅓ of the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Add the last ½ of the milk/sour cream mixture and beat until just combined.
- Add the final ⅓ of the dry ingredients and mix just until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Grease and flour bundt pan. I use shortening, and make sure every crevice of the pan is coated! Pour batter evenly into the pan and bake at 350 degrees F for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with few crumbs.
- While cake is baking, make the glaze sauce. Add sauce ingredients to a saucepan over medium heat. Stir well until butter has melted and mixture is smooth. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring, and boil for 2 minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool for in the pan for at least 15 minutes before gently inverting it. (I like to remove the cake first, to make sure to get it out easily). Then wipe the pan clean and put the cake back in it. Poke holes all over the cake and gently pour most of the sauce over the cake, reserving just a little.
- Allow the cake to soak up the glaze and then invert it onto a plate or serving platter. Spoon remaining glaze on top.
- Store rum cake well-covered in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi Lauren,
Is it ok to use all purpose flour instead of cake flour? Also, if the cake gets stuck in the bundt pan, how do you recommend getting it out without having the cake fall apart? Thanks so much!
When cakes are done, they will pull away from the sides of the pan—look for that.
But when cakes stick, it usually means we’ve waited too long before trying to remove them from the pan; or we didn’t make sure to separate any cake that had baked onto the top of the pan.
The first correction would include putting the cake back into hot oven for about 5-10 minutes so it can be released from the pan.
The second fix would be to clean up the edges where the cake and pan meet BEFORE attempting to remove cake from pan.
One way to test a cake’s readiness to leave the pan is to tilt them side to side, front to back; also, you can see whether or not it moves if you lightly shake the pan back and forth. If they slowly slide in the pan, or move, they, more than likely, ready to come out of the pan.
Can this be done as a layer cake?
Yes, that should be fine!
I have looked all over and this is the BEST scratch rum cake there is 😍
What would the temp and cook time be for individual cakes? I have someone that wants me to make some and have never made it before. So help would be appreciated. Have a great day. Thank you
I’d need to know the cake pan sizes…
I love this easy recipe and it is always a big hit when I take it to gatherings of family and friends.