← Recipe book

Holiday rum cake

Verdict: Good, but it must be served warm. Otherwise the texture is bad and weird.

One 12-cup Bundt · 4½ hours in total · Source: America's Test Kitchen Holiday Rum Cake, with white sugar and molasses in place of the brown sugar

Ingredients

Cake
  • 3 cups (15 oz / 425 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • ¼ cup dark rum
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 18 tbsp (2¼ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 cups (14 oz / 397 g) sugar
  • 3 large eggs plus 1 large yolk, room temperature
Streusel
  • 1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped fine
  • ½ cup (3½ oz / 99 g) granulated sugar
  • 1½ tsp molasses
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
Rum syrup and glaze
  • 2/3 cup (4 2/3 oz / 132 g) sugar
  • ½ cup dark rum
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup (4 oz / 113 g) confectioners' sugar

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle. Grease and flour a 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan. Combine 3 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder and ½ tsp baking soda in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk ½ cup buttermilk, ¼ cup rum, 1 tbsp vanilla and 1 tbsp lemon juice.
  2. In a stand mixer with the paddle, beat 18 tbsp butter and 2 cups sugar on medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the 3 eggs and the yolk one at a time, beating until combined. On low, add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of the buttermilk mixture, scraping down the bowl as needed.
  3. Set aside 2 tbsp of the pecans. With a fork, combine the rest of the pecans with ½ cup sugar, 1½ tsp molasses and 2 tbsp butter until crumbly.
  4. Scrape two-thirds of the batter into the pan, sprinkle on the streusel in an even layer, and top with the remaining batter. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, rotating the pan halfway, until a toothpick in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, bring 2/3 cup sugar, ½ cup rum and 2 tbsp water to a boil in a small saucepan and simmer over medium-low until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Whisk in 4 tbsp butter until smooth. Cool the syrup completely, about 30 minutes.
  6. Turn the cake out and prick it all over with a fork. Brush the warm cake with ¾ cup of the rum syrup and let it cool completely, about 2 hours.
  7. Whisk 1 cup confectioners' sugar into the remaining syrup until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cake and sprinkle with the reserved 2 tbsp pecans. Let the glaze firm up, about 30 minutes.

Notes

  • Rewarm it before serving.
  • The swap: ½ cup packed light brown sugar became ½ cup granulated sugar plus 1½ tsp molasses, the same 1 tbsp per cup ratio as the lace cookies.
  • No Bundt pan: two 9-inch loaf pans, checking from 40 to 45 minutes.