Rumtopf Cake
If you have been following my blog, you might recall that we started a Rumtopf early in the year (if you missed that, you can read about it here as well as get some great ideas for using your Rumtopf). If you have been following along you would also know that traditionally Rumtopf is supposed to be enjoyed on Christmas morning. Well, guess what? We couldn’t wait until Christmas to dive in! I got the crazy idea to attempt to make one of my favorite cakes using the rum and the fruit from the Rumtopf. Ages ago, I clipped a recipe for a rum cake from a Bacardi Rum ad I found in a magazine and have been enjoying it ever since. If you have never made it before and you want to give it a try, the original recipe is below. We decided to kick it up a notch by using the rum and fruit from the Rumtopf, and I am happy to report that it was a huge hit! Since we started making the Rumtopf in May, I guess you can say that this cake was almost a year in the making! Although a fair amount of work goes into a making a Rumtopf, preparing the cake is relatively easy. If you don’t have any Rumtopf the original is almost just as good.
- 1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped and toasted
- 6-8 fresh dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1 18.5 ounce yellow cake mix
- 1 3.4 ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup cold milk (or water)
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup strained Rumtopf liquid
- 1 cup of Rumtopf fruit, roughly chopped
- ½ cup butter
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup strained Rumtopf liquid
- For the cake Measure a cup of fruit from your Rumtopf and place it in a strainer to drain, reserving the liquid. Grease and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan. Add the nuts and dates to the bottom of the pan. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, milk, oil and the ½ cup of the Rumtopf liquid together in a mixing bowl and beat for about 2 minutes. Gently fold in the chopped fruit and pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake in a 325°F oven for 50-60 minutes or until done. Remove from oven to cool on a rack.
- Prepare glaze Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the water and sugar. Stir the mixture until the sugar is dissolved and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the strained Rumtopf liquid.
- Glazing your cake You can glaze the cake in either of two ways. You can invert the cake from the pan onto a plate, prick the top with a fork or a wooden skewer and brush on the glaze until it is completely absorbed. This method takes a bit of time. I prefer to leave the cake in the Bundt pan, prick the cake with a wooden skewer, and pour the glaze over the cake. When the cake has absorbed all of the glaze, you can invert it onto a plate.
Enjoy!
If you want to try the original, here is the recipe:
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 18½ oz. yellow cake mix
- 1 3½ oz. package vanilla Jell-O instant pudding mix
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup cold water
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup Bacardi dark rum
- ¼ lb. butter
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup Bacardi dark rum
- Grease and flour a 10” tube or 12 cup bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix all the cake ingredients together and pour batter over nuts. Bake 1 hour in a 325° oven. Cool on rack, then invert onto serving plate. Prick top and spoon or brush glaze over top and side of cake until all the glaze has been absorbed.
- Glaze Melt butter in saucepan, stir in water and sugar, boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat. Stir in rum.
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