Rum Cake

 Few months ago my mom's friend Judy gave us a rum cake shaped in one of those fluted cake mold. It was delicious! The cake had a robust flavor of rum and a moist yet cakey texture. We loved it so much I asked Judy for the recipe. I was surprised to find that the recipe actually uses instant cake mix and instant vanilla pudding mix as the base. It was easy enough. I made it for the first time as a dessert for our Christmas dinner. The nuts and the lovely shape of the cake seems festive enough. I of course reduced the amount of sugar. I cut it in half. I'm still in doubt why the recipe calls for such a huge amount of sugar when the instant cake mix and pudding mix already contain a high amount of sweetness. So I only added half the sugar in the glaze. And it was definitely sweet enough. However, I recently made the cake again and eliminated the sugar completely, and no surprise, the cake was still sweet enough, though not as moist. This is definitely a fool-proof recipe, because seriously, how can fail at using an instant cake mix? Since it is a recipe I want to keep, I do intend to substitute the yellow cake mix with actual flours and whatever other ingredients that makes up yellow cake!

Rum Cake Recipe
(Recipe from allrecipes.com)

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup rum
1/2 cup chopped pecans
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup rum

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour one 10 inch tube pan.
• Combine cake mix and pudding mix.
• In another bowl beat eggs, water, oil and rum until frothy. Add cake mix/pudding mixture and beat until well mixed. Spread pecans evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan and pour batter over pecans.
• Bake cake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry when inserted in the center. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes and remove from pan. Place in serving dish immediately, right side up. (Pecans should be on the bottom)
• To Make Glaze: During the last 15 to 20 minutes of baking time, combine butter or margarine, water and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and boil rapidly until it's very thick and syrupy stirring very frequently. The syrup must be reduced quite a bit and very thick otherwise it will make the cake mushy. Remove from heat and add rum. While cake is still hot, poke holes all over top of cake with a toothpick and spoon glaze over top of cake. Allow cake to sit at room temperature for one day then refrigerate.