Made from scratch without the crutch of cake mix, this homemade rum cake is perfectly moist, extra buttery, and flavored with rum. Top with boozy butter rum glaze and serve warm or cold. Rum cake doesn’t require a special occasion, but it’s perfect for the holidays!
I’ve had many requests for rum cake and I’m so excited to finally share my version with you! This is my 100% homemade rum Bundt cake and it’s even better than it looks and sounds.
This Rum Cake Is:
- Completely from scratch
- Very buttery and moist
- Lightly flavored with rum
- Heavily flavored with butter rum glaze
- Filled with brown sugar, orange, and buttery flavors
- Not as dense as pound cake, not as soft as white cake (in between!)
- Delicious warm + delicious cold
- Topped with butter rum glaze
Totally From Scratch
Instead of using cake mix and pudding mix, I took a look at some of my from-scratch Bundt cakes. Like vanilla cake and white cake, I have a standard Bundt cake recipe that I use for different flavors including chai cinnamon swirl Bundt cake and cranberry orange Bundt cake. Both are some of the best cakes I’ve ever made because they’re easy, insanely buttery, extra moist, and dense… without being too heavy.
With a quality base recipe like this, the options are endless. Rum cake, let’s go!
Rum Cake Ingredients
Because they’re so large, Bundt cakes have a tendency to dry out. To avoid this, it’s important to use the careful ratio and ingredients listed below.
- Flour: We use sturdy all-purpose flour as the base of this Bundt cake. It’s strong enough to hold up all the liquid ingredients. I don’t recommend swapping in cake flour because it’s simply too light.
- Baking Powder: 2 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder is more than we use for a typical cake, but it’s needed to help this hefty cake rise.
- Salt + Vanilla Extract: Both salt and vanilla extract add flavor.
- Butter: This is a very buttery cake, so expect a lot of butter!
- Orange Zest: Trust me on this. Orange, rum, and brown sugar are a trio you need in your baking. The orange zest adds a fleck of background flavor without competing with the rum. My husband, who isn’t usually super descriptive besides the simple “it’s good”, complimented the delicious orange flavor.
- Sugars: Paired with orange and rum, brown sugar is definitely welcome. We use brown sugar as the primary sweetener, with just a touch of granulated sugar.
- Rum: We’re replacing most of the liquid with rum. You need 1/2 cup of regular, dark, or spiced rum. I tested with several and they’re all fantastic. We really liked the cakes with dark or spiced rum best. It does not need to be a fancy rum!
- Eggs, Sour Cream, + Milk: 5 eggs, sour cream, and milk add moisture. It’s a lot of volume but remember, we want a mega moist cake with a buttery crumb.
- Pecans: Perhaps the best part of all, pecans line the bottom (which ends up being the top) of the Bundt cake pan. This added texture, paired with the butter, rum, brown sugar, orange, and butter rum glaze, is completely unforgettable– probably the best part of this cake.
Before you Bundt
- Bundt Pan: Use a large Bundt pan that holds 10-12 cup capacity. I love this one and this one. Both are nonstick, but I always grease it with nonstick spray just to be safe. The Bundt cake releases so easily.
- Curdled Ingredients: The wet ingredients will look somewhat curdled before you add the dry ingredients– this is due to the ranging temperatures and textures of the ingredients. It’s normal. The butter may be warmer than the eggs, the sour cream may be colder than the butter, etc. It will all come together when the dry ingredients are added.
Butter Rum Glaze
Let’s finish this beauty off with a butter rum glaze that sets. (Meaning: it won’t stay drippy and wet.) Like the brown butter icing I use on my apple blondies, we’ll whip this up with some heat. Melt butter with a little rum in a small saucepan or microwave, then stir in vanilla extract, confectioners’ sugar, and a pinch of salt. The icing is thin at first, but thickens as it cools.
In fact, you might notice two different consistencies of the glaze in these photos. (2 test cakes, same cake + glaze recipe.) I drizzled the glazes on the cakes, but the thicker glaze had cooled for 10 minutes.
Thick or thin, warm or cool, this butter rum glaze is liquid gold. It would be incredible on my iced oatmeal cookies and peach Bundt cake, too.
Can You Taste the Alcohol?
The cake itself has 1/2 cup of rum in the batter. It has a light rum flavor and the alcohol bakes out. You’re also not consuming the entire cake (well, hopefully not!), so don’t expect to get tipsy off of 1 or 2 slices. The butter rum glaze, however, has a fairly strong rum flavor. It’s not cooked, so the alcohol is there. Again, you aren’t consuming the entire cake and 1-2 spoonfuls of glaze won’t get you tipsy.
Use your best judgement serving to minors, pregnant women, or anyone abstaining from alcohol.
Want to skip the alcohol altogether? Replace the rum in the cake and the glaze with milk.
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Homemade Butter Rum Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Made from scratch without the crutch of cake mix, this homemade rum cake is perfectly moist, extra buttery, and flavored with rum. Top with boozy butter rum glaze and serve warm or cold. Review recipe notes prior to beginning.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (130g) finely chopped pecans
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 and 1/2 cups (3 sticks; 345g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- zest from 1/2 orange (about 1 Tbsp)
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) full fat sour cream, at room temperature*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120ml) rum or spiced rum*
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk, at room temperature
Butter Rum Icing
- 3 Tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) rum or spiced rum*
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- small pinch of salt (a bit less than 1/8 teaspoon)
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 10-inch Bundt pan. Spoon pecans evenly into the bundt pan.
- Make the cake: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and orange zest together until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla and beat on medium speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. The mixture will look curdled; that’s ok– it will come together when you add the dry ingredients.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and begin mixing on low speed. As the mixer runs, slowly pour in the rum and milk. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat until the batter is completely combined. Batter is thick.
- Pour/spoon the cake batter evenly over the pecans.
- Bake for 55-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean with just a couple lightly moist crumbs. This is a large, heavy cake so don’t be alarmed if it takes a little longer in your oven. Mine always takes about 55 minutes.
- Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 45 minutes to 2 hours inside the pan. Then, invert the slightly cooled Bundt cake onto a wire rack or serving dish. (You can glaze and serve it while warm, or wait for it to cool completely.)
- Make the glaze: Melt the butter with the rum in a small saucepan over medium heat. If using the microwave, melt the butter in the microwave, then stir in the rum. Stir in the vanilla extract, salt, and confectioners’ sugar. Drizzle warm glaze over cake before slicing and serving. Glaze quickly thickens and sets as it cools. If desired, serve with maraschino cherries.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the entire cake ahead of time (before topping with icing). Cover cooled cake and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before icing and serving. Baked cake can be frozen up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature (if desired) before icing and serving.
- Sour Cream: You can use 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Just as moist and delicious!
- Rum: Use your favorite rum including light rum, dark rum, or spiced rum. See How Alcoholic is This Rum Cake above the recipe. If desired, swap the rum in the cake and glaze for milk.
- Pecans and/or Orange Zest: Both are optional, but add incredible flavor. I don’t recommend leaving out either. Replace the pecans with walnuts, if desired.
- Layer Cake: Use my vanilla cake recipe and replace 1/2 cup of buttermilk with 1/2 cup of rum. (Use 1 cup buttermilk + 1/2 cup rum.) Sprinkle the bottom of each lined cake pan with 1/3 cup chopped pecans before adding the batter. Replace 2-3 Tablespoons of milk in the frosting with rum.
Keywords: rum cake, bundt cake, pecans, Christmas cake
Can I sub out the dark rum and use rum extract?
Hi Sciacca, if desired you can swap the rum in the cake and glaze for milk and add rum extract.
This looks amazing, can’t wait to make it! Can I replace the pecans with granola to keep the crunch but make it nut free? (I’m allergic to nuts so I don’t know how the flavors compare/would change)
Hi Michelle, we haven’t tested it, but you can certainly give it a try. Let us know if you do!
If I want a bit more lift to this cake, can I increase the baking powder to 3 tsp or add 1/4 tsp baking soda and substitute equivalent volume of orange juice for the milk?
Hi Gayle! We haven’t tested those changes, but let us know if you do. 2 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder is what we found to work the best for this cake.
Giving this a try now, the batter tastes good with the orange juice. I sifted and the measured the 3 cups of flour, so batter is lighter from that change as well. Will give a final update when my guests have the taste test.
My taste testers give this modification a 2 thumbs up; the orange juice instead of milk, full tbsp of orange zest, and the additional 1/4 tsp of baking soda and sift the flour then measure. Texture was the light moist cake with a good crumb that i was looking for.
★★★★★
Plan to make this cake for Mother’s Day this weekend. Never had one of your recipes fail. A rum cake is such a treat and I can’t wait to make this one.
Hi! Would this be a good cake to cut up for a trifle?
We can’t see why not!
I was looking for a good whiskey cake. Could I sub whiskey for the rum?
Shouldn’t be a problem!
This cake is dangerous and should not be made on a weekday. I made it yesterday, replacing the pecans for pre-soaked raisins, and all hell broke loose at home. My husband devoured 1/4th of this moist piece of heaven and had to take a nap in the middle of the workday, forcing me to listen to the lull of his snores for 2 hours. My mother, who proceeded to demolish another quarter of it, is now complaining about how I am single-handedly the reason for her weight gain. It turned my father, a verbose man of 60, into a little boy who sat quietly at the table, finishing his vegetables so he could have another slice. Worst of all, it created a stupid smile on my face for half a day and has broken through my tough-girl exterior.
<3
★★★★★
We’re so glad it was a hit for all!
I absolutely loved this cake! If I were to make it again, I think I would add twice as much orange zest and make 2/3 of the glaze. I also added some orange juice to the glaze to tie in the orange flavor and it was so delicious. Definitely recommend!
★★★★★
Hi, I’ll be using a mini bundt pan which holds twelve mini bundt cakes. What is the recommended baking time?
Hi Kris, bake time will depend on the exact size of the mini Bundt pans. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but you can use this recipe for mini vanilla Bundt cakes as a guide.
Can I use gold rum in this recipe? Also, can I use walnuts instead of pecans?
Hi Klea, yes, you can use gold rum and use walnuts in place of pecans.
The recipe asks for 1.5 tsp of salt, isn’t that a lot for a cake?
Hi Ashi, 1.5 teaspoons is correct — it’s a rather large cake!
Hi! I am allergic to tree nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, etc.) but not peanuts. Is there any substitute that can be used in place of the pecans??
Hi Allison, chopped peanuts should work just fine, or you can omit if needed.
I made this and final result was gorgeous to look at! The cake was dry and dense, and only did 55 minutes in the oven. Perhaps I overmixed? The dark rum was very distinct in the glaze, and not quite flattering on the palette. Perhaps just our taste preferences. Last, my glaze was clear and did not stand out enough visually. One other thing is I should have probably smoothed out the cake batter more before putting in the oven, as it baked and rose unevenly on the top. I thought I would have to cut that part off, but when I flipped it over it was just fine. So a non-issue, but it had me worried! Just got my bundt pan and this was my second bake with it. I am going to work through all your Bundt recipes, and really enjoying baking them!
★★★
Lovely cake, super moist and soft.
We made this in two loaf pans since we didn’t have a Bundt pan on hand and had no issues; baked at the same temperature and came out around 55 minutes.
We increased the pecans to around 1.25 cups but could have gone even higher; they add a lovely crunch to the cake.
★★★★★
This cake was amazing! It was so moist and had the best flavour. I was disappointed in my glaze though. It hardened up and broke off the cake every time you cut it. It would have been nice if it was softer and stayed on the cake. I must have done something wrong.
★★★★★
This cake is super yummy. My only question is that it seems heavy. I know you mention not to use cake flour any other suggestions to make it a lighter cake?
★★★★★
Hi Geri, this Bundt cake is on the heavier side, but be sure not to over mix, which can often be the culprit of overly dry and dense cakes. We’re so glad you enjoyed this one!
I am a great fan if your recipes, I am looking to try this out for Christmas. I was wondering what type of milk as it wasn’t specified ( buttermilk, 3% , evaporated, condensed 2% ).
Thank you
Hi Ruby, whole milk will produce the most tender cake, but a lower fat or non-dairy milk will work in a pinch. We don’t recommend using evaporated or condensed milk.
Any recommendations for greasing the pan? I had horrible experience with Bundt cake sticking in the past. I just ordered the Alanon non stick , hoping for better. Should I use Pam, Pam for baking or butter to grease the pan. Thank you
Hi Dianne, you can use any of those products to grease the pan — just do so heavily!
I know this is a really late response but mine slid out perfectly. What I did was melt some shortening in the microwave and brushed the entire bundt pan. Cake slid right out no problem. Hope this helps.
So I’m on the hunt to find a way to make rum cake cupcakes! I’m not sure if the best way is to convert this recipe or to use a yellow cupcake recipe and put some rum twists on it. What do you suggest?
Hi Alyssa, We recommend following our Simply Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes recipe. Add orange zest and replace 1/2 of the milk with rum. Let us know how they turn out!
For anyone wishing to add the rum soaked raisins, and I’m one of you, I suggest tossing them in a bit of flour prior to folding into the batter. This works with other recipes I’ve added raisins (and berries) to.
I’m going to try and will give feedback. Making for someone who can’t have the nuts but loves raisins.
The cake was delicious. I tried putting the rum soaked raisins in, only half a cup in the end and they sank to the bottom/top of the cake but still tasted amazing. Will be making this cake again. Great recipe. Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi can rum soaked raisins be added to this recipe at all? Making for someone who loves rum and raisin ice-cream? thanks
Hi Ric, we can’t see why not. We’d recommend about 1 cup of rum-soaked raisins. Let us know how it turns out!
Will white rum still taste good, or should I use dark?
Hi Grace, dark rum is really best for this recipe.
What can I substitute the egg with in the recipe
Hi Aditi, We haven’t tested this recipe with any egg substitutes but let us know if you try any. If you are interested here are all of our egg free recipes.
Hello! I love every recipe of yours that I have tried. I am looking forward to making this bundt cake next, but what would you suggest if I wanted to make mini ones with a mini bundt cake tray?
Hi Katie! We’re unsure of the baking time– it depends how big the mini Bundts are. You can use a toothpick to check for doneness.
Can I use a white /light rum instead of the dark rum ?
Hi Angela! You really want the rich flavor that a dark rum offers for this cake – we suggest sticking with dark!
My friend just opened a distillery, selling the most amazing Salted Caramel Vodka.. is it possible to replace the rum with this vodka, or will this not work? Thank you!
Hi Emily! That sounds amazing – you may miss some of the deep rum flavor, but let us know if you give it a try!
My husband has issues with dairy – the sour cream I can do, but was thinking about subbing almond milk for the milk. Any thoughts on whether that would crash the recipe?
Hi Kim, A non dairy milk such as almond milk should work in this cake batter.
I made this last night for friends and it was a big hit! Everyone raved about the subtle flavours and the crystalline texture of the glaze, although I’m not sure if that was right or an accident!
★★★★★