This is the easiest Bacardi rum cake made with a moist decadent rum spiked center, chopped pecans and a sweet buttery rum glaze on top.
This Bacardi rum cake recipe may remind you of my chocolate Kahlua cake recipe which is also incredible. If you’re hosting a crowd and looking for something a little more kid-friendly to add to your dessert table, this homemade oreo ice cream cake is always a hit with the little ones!
We don’t shy away from the deliciousness that booze adds to the table – if that’s your thing, you’ll also love these Bailey’s Chocolate Cheesecake Trifles, Strawberry Lemonade Sangria, and Chocolate Coconut Rum cocktails!
Table of contents
Bacardi Rum Cake Recipe
I have several recipes in my recipe box that I come back to time and time again. They are tried and true and always go over well. Today’s glazed pecan rum cake is an excellent example. It’s a spectacular-looking cake, for starters.
There’s something about a pretty bundt cake that always makes for a beautiful presentation. This is a great cake to serve to dinner guests or at a bridal shower. It seriously looks like it took hours to make!
Friends, I assure you, it does not. It’s probably one of the easiest fancy-schmancy cakes you’ll ever make! I mean, who doesn’t love a shortcut?
What is a rum cake?
Depending on where you are in the world, preparing a rum cake might look a little different. There is one thing that all rum cakes have in common, however, and that is that it’s cake. With rum. Allll the rum.
It’s a bundt cake (doesn’t have to be, but typically is) that is baked with rum as part of the ingredients, and then glazed with a rum-infused buttery sauce that gets soaked into the cake even further. It’s pretty much dangerous and pretty much the best. I’m only half-joking, some of the alcohol gets baked off, of course, so one piece is perfectly fine! But I say, go ahead and have another.
In the Caribbean, the major difference to the preparation is the fact that it uses dried fruit that has been soaked in rum, sometimes for months. Fruit like currents, raisins, and dates are added which results in a much darker looking, extremely moist, cake. It’s for this reason, that this labor of love is usually reserved for holidays and special occasions.
This version is a not quite from scratch version of rum cake popular in the US. We’re going to be using a boxed cake mix as well as an instant pudding mix, which not only saves time and effort but also gets us that incredibly soft, moist, decadent cake that is signature of a delicious rum cake!
Appliance info:
Bundt Pan: A Bundt pan is all you really need for this recipe. To be honest, it’s not even an absolute must. It adds to the presentation for sure, and you may need to adjust the bake time if you’re using something different.
Ingredients:
FOR THE CAKE
- Chopped pecans – The nuts on top will add crunch and flavor that pairs so well with the rum.
- Yellow cake mix – Choose a yellow cake mix over white because it’s generally a moister cake that will have more weight to it.
- Vanilla instant pudding mix – Will add a nice vanilla flavor as well as added moisture. It’s a great replacement for vanilla extract you’d normally use.
- Eggs – You’ll need 4 large ones.
- Cold water – Using cold will help with even baking, especially if the rest of your ingredients are not at the same temperature.
- Vegetable oil – A fat needed especially when butter is absent.
- Bacardi dark rum – Because, rum cake. But you can really use whichever you’d like.
FOR THE GLAZE
- Salted butter – Creates a smooth velvety finish.
- Water – Needed to make the glaze extra thin and runny.
- Sugar – A sweet butter rum glaze is nothing without the sugar!
- Rum – A rum glaze needs rum!
How to Make this Bacardi Rum Cake with the Best Glaze:
After baking up the cake in a bundt pan, you will let it cool completely before adding the glaze. The cake is all about the glaze, so don’t skimp! The full glaze recipe is meant to be absorbed by the cake.
I use a pastry brush to coat the top and sides of the cake and it takes 4-5 layers to soak up all the glaze. Set the cake on a drying rack over a baking sheet to catch excess drips. Once the cake is completely coated, you’ll have a nice, sweet rum layer wrapping the dense inner layers of the cake. Mmmmm, deliciousness!
Serve a slice with a cup of tea or a glass of…wine? Well, whatever, you get the idea. Eat it, enjoy it, and let me know what you think!
FAQs
Although they add a nice crunch, you can definitely leave the pecans out, and replace it with a dusting of powder sugar instead.
In order to keep the moisture in, it’s important to keep it covered. If you’re going to freeze it, it freezes very well without the glaze. Once it’s cooled completely, freeze it for up to 3 months and thaw it at room temperature before adding the glaze.
The best part of this cake is biting into a moist piece of rum soaked cake! This can only be achieved by using all of it. However, if you would like a lighter flavor, you could either switch to light rum rather than dark, or use less of the glaze.
Enjoy, friends!
Bacardi Rum Cake
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 pkg. yellow cake mix
- 3.75 oz. vanilla instant pudding mix
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum
Glaze Ingredients:
- 8 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup Bacardi rum
Instructions
Cake Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Grease and flour a 10" bundt pan.
- Sprinkle the nuts evenly around the bottom of the bundt pan.
- Mix the remaining cake ingredients together: cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, 1/2 cup water, vegetable oil and 1/2 cup rum.
- Pour batter into the bundt pan over the nuts.
- Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out with just a few crumbs.
- Cool the cake, removing from the pan after 15 minutes and cooling the rest of the way on a cooling rack.
Glaze Instructions:
- Prepare the glaze by melting the butter in a saucepan.
- Stir in the water and sugar, heating over medium high until mixture comes to a boil.
- Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove the glaze from the heat and stir in rum.
- Use a pastry brush to spread the glaze over cooled cake, concentrating on the top (where the pecans are), but also brushing over the sides and inner ring. It will take multiple applications to use up the whole saucepan of glaze, but it is worth the extra time! Use every drop!
