Rum cake from scratch – there’s no pudding or cake mix involved and it’s even more delicious than the cake mix version! Can be made with all-purpose flour or with whole wheat pastry flour for a 100% whole grain version.
The special thing about this rum cake, other than being the most awesome rum cake ever, is that you don’t need a bunch of processed junk to make it. Most rum cakes call for cake mix and pudding mix, neither of which I really want to use.
I remember when I moved to Germany, where we don’t have the same cake and pudding mixes, 6 years ago and spent hours looking for a rum cake recipe from scratch. No luck.
But Alejandra from Always Order Dessert has solved that problem with her rum cake from scratch! Now the whole world can enjoy rum cake. :)
The original recipe calls for 1 cup of homemade pudding mix. The recipe for the pudding mix yields 2 1/2 cups and since I didn’t want any pudding mix left over, I scaled down the pudding recipe to what was needed just for the rum cake and it worked perfectly!
I also wanted to try subbing coconut oil for the vegetable oil in the original but I chickened out and used olive oil. Since coconut oil is solid at room temperature (at least in cold winter kitchens), I was worried that it’d make the cake too firm.
If you taste the batter and can taste the olive oil, don’t panic! The olive taste bakes away, or perhaps it’s just all the rum in the syrup that totally covers it up.
The first time I made this rum cake, I made it for a birthday party that I wasn’t even going to, and it smelled so unbelievably amazing that I had to cut into it. And then I cut into it some more.
And then we just cut the cake into slices, made some whoopsie-I-ate-most-of-the-cake-brownies and Mr. Texanerin brought a few cake pieces to the party.
This cake is so ridiculously boozy. Some folks don’t like a strong alcohol taste in their goodies. Not me. I want my cake to be swimming in booze.
If you love boozy desserts, you also have to try my Irish cream brownies. There’s 3/4 cup of Baileys in there!
And this thing is SO moist. I suppose that’s not too surprising considering the amount of butter that goes into it. In addition to what’s in the cake, you also make a butter rum syrup, poke holes in the cake, and then you pour the syrup all over it.
If a whole bundt cake is too much for you, check out my Irish cream bundt cake. It’s basically this recipe, halved to fit a 6-cup bundt pan, and with Irish cream. Just use rum instead and you’ll have yourself a cute little bundt cake. :)
Totally from Scratch Rum Cake (with a 100% whole grain option)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 12-15 servings
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup (219 grams) all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup (55 grams) dry milk powder (whole milk or fat-free work)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (42 grams) cornstarch
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (112 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated or raw sugar
- 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons (160 milliliters) olive oil (canola oil or another vegetable oil would work, too, but I don't recommend coconut oil)
- 3/4 cup (177 milliliters) milk
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (177 milliliters) dark rum
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (112 grams) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup (120 milliliters) water
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated or raw sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (120 milliliters) dark rum
Cake:
Rum Syrup:
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F (162°C). Spray a 12-cup bundt pan very well with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, dry milk powder, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set this aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar at high speed until light and fluffy. Add the dry flour mix to this. It will resemble fine crumbs.
- In the bowl that just had the flour mix, whisk together the oil, milk, eggs, rum, and vanilla extract. Add this to the crumb mixture and beat until well combined. The batter will be quite thin.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 48-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- When there are about 15 minutes remaining on the timer, start the butter rum syrup. In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the butter, water, sugar and salt until the sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally. Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the rum (it'll bubble).
- Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then invert onto a wire rack. Wash and dry the bundt pan and place the cake back into the pan. Poke holes into the cake (I used a meat thermometer to do this) and pour the syrup slowly over the cake. Let soak for 1-2 hours and then invert the cake back onto a serving platter. Cover and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
- For German bakers: German flour and American all-purpose are not interchangeable but I've had great luck using 50 grams Type 550 and 169 grams Type 405 in this cake. You could also try whole spelt but I think it'd taste a little whole grainy.
Adapted from Rum Cake from Scratch on Always Order Dessert
This post was originally posted in 2012. Here’s the original picture for kicks and giggles. :D
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274 comments on “Rum Cake from Scratch – The Best Ever!” — Add one!
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Hi,
I have just made a rum cake but don’t have the correct tin. Does the cake rise? And is a loaf Tinax I placed it in the middle of the oven?
Hi! The cake does rise. I’m afraid I understand your last question? If you don’t have a bundt pan, some commenters have told me that these work well as cupcakes (though I have no idea of the baking time).
I just loved it!
I’m happy to hear that. :)
Thank you for the recipe…. I just baked mine, It smells good, looks good and most of all i know it will taste good. I just pinch a small piece off…. hehe. If this comes out perfect i will be saving me $4 per slice that i purchase from the bakery
I hope it came out well! Think of all the money you’ll save. :D Thanks for your comment!
“Where’. Typo…
Thanks for the recipe I started baking about six months ago with it and have now reached the point we’re I have been adapting it to make lots of fun variations including Apple Rum Cake, Chocolate Orange Rum Cake and our new family favourite Pina Colada Rum Cake! Thanks to your recipe at their heart they turn out beautifully every time!
Oooh! Apple rum sounds especially delicious. What do you do for that one? I’d love to try it out. Thanks for your comment! I’m happy that the base recipe has been working out well for you. :)
Please I do not have a bundt cake pan can I use a tube pan?
That should work just fine! Hope you’ll enjoy it. :)
I am a baker, but i have a question. Since we have to return the cake to the bundt pan and pour the butter syrup over it, is it a suitable cake to make ahead and put in the freezer? ANd also, at 325 deg. should it be baked on the lowest rack of the oven. Please advise. Thank you.
Replied via email. :)
Silly question but we don’t drink so don’t want to purchase rum for the purposes of cake. I do have rum extract in my pantry – can I substitute along with 3/4 cup water ? How much extract? Thank you!!
Sorry for just now seeing your comment! I’ve never used rum extract so I looked it up and found this, which says 1 Tablespoon dark rum = 2 Tablespoon rum extract. If that’s really true then no, rum extract won’t work in it’s place. :( Sorry about that!
The alcohol cooks out of the cake while it cooks you just have the rum flavor. No need to worry about the alcohol.
I was wondering if I can use cake flour instead of all purpose flour? I can’t wait to try this recipe since it has so many great reviews!
I haven’t tried it so I unfortunately can’t really say. Sorry about that! I’m thinking you really might need all-purpose flour here. The cake is already pretty delicate with all-purpose flour.
Thank you so much for your very quick response. I will go ahead with the all purpose flour then.
cake or pastry flour is lighter then all purpose flour…
You’re welcome! Hope it came out well. :)
Thank you Erin! I followed your recipe exactly how you have it here and was amazed at how wonderful and delicious it came out. Thank you for sharing your recipes!
You’re welcome! I’m so very happy that you enjoyed it. :) Thanks for coming back to let me know how it came out!
I made this cake last year as Christmas gifts. It never fails people love it. I’m already doing it this year. Thank you. Merry Christmas
Yay! So happy you like it enough to give away as gifts. :) Thanks for your comment!
Can I use regular milk instead of powdered milk? I am wanting to make this for my fiance’s birthday which is also Christmas Eve.
Unfortunately not. :( You need the powder. Sorry about that!
Thank you responding!
You’re welcome! Hope you have a nice Christmas. :)
Made this cake for a company Christmas party this week and it was outstanding! Love that is completely from scratch. I had no issues with the bake time although I set the timer for 48 minutes and it finished a couple of minutes early. Came out perfect. I didn’t have enough olive oil so I used canola instead. That’s the only change I made. Thank you for the incredible recipe! This will be a keeper and made often.
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you liked it. :) I guess the baking time just really depends on the exact bundt pan (the color and shape) used as well as the oven. Thanks so much for your feedback!
I made this over the weekend in a mini bundt pan for my boyfriends birthday and I didn’t even get a chance to eat a whole one! There was 36!
I used the Nordic Ware mini bundt pan that has 12 bundts and they came out super cute and super yummy! His family is already asking that I make another round!
It was nice to find this recipe as 95% of the other recipes I looked at had box cake mix in it. I prefer to do all my cakes from scratch and it was my first time making rum cake.
Aww! I’m sad you didn’t get to eat one yourself, especially after you did all the work. Hopefully you can make them again soon! That’s great to know that they come out well as mini bundts. Thanks for the tip and for your comment. :)
Just made this and can’t wait to dive in. It’s currently waiting on the counter in its butter sugar rum bath.
I hope you’ll enjoy it! I love that you called it a butter sugar rum bath. It makes it sound even more delicious. :D
I used Scotch whiskey instead :) of rum because that’s what I had in hand and it is delicious! Thanks for the recipe. I too have looked for a scratch rum recipe. Glad I found yours!
I’m happy you found it, too! :) And whiskey sounds amazing. I’ll have to try that! Thanks for the tip and for your comment. :)
One last question. Do I sift the flour? If so, is the flour sifted before or after I take the measurements? 1 3/4 cups of sifted flour will weigh less than 1 3/4 cups of unsifted flour. Thanks again.
Nope! A recipe will specifically call for sifted flour if it should be sifted. :)
Thanks so much for clarifying. I’m making 2 gluten free and also a regular version today.
I would love to know how the gluten free cake turned out. Did you substitute the same amount of ap flour to the gf flour? I hear that using buttermilk instead of milk in gf helps with the texture.
What flour did you use for the GF version? I hope it came out well!
Is there a difference in taste if I use vegetable oil instead of olive oil?
Nope. :)
Thank you for your quick reply. I’ll be baking the cake tomorrow. One more question. I currently have Bacardi gold at home. If I use that instead of dark rum, how will that change the flavor? If dark rum does taste better, I’ll go out and buy it. Thanks
You’re welcome! And it’s just a personal preference. Lots of commenters have used lighter rum and have liked it. :) Enjoy!
Is it possible to use vanilla pudding instead of powdered milk for this cake?
I’d have to recommend finding a different recipe (most of them use vanilla pudding powder). I used more sugar, cornstarch and powdered milk powder in this recipe as a replacement for the vanilla pudding powder found in most rum cake recipes.
Thank you so much for this recipe!! I’ve made it 3 times now and each time, I’m totally blown away!
You’re welcome! So happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying the cake. :) Thanks for your comment!
Can I make this on a 9″ round pan instead of a Bundt pan? I need to make a 6″ and a 9″ round cake. Can this be covered with fondant? Thanks
Please see the comment below yours concerning the size. :) And I’ve never used fondant so I unfortunately have no idea. Sorry about that!