This caramel pecan rum cake is perfectly spiced with cinnamon and layered with silky cream cheese frosting. All drizzled over with caramel sauce and topped with crunchy pecans for ultimate holiday indulgence.
Rum cake is traditionally a Christmas cake that's baked in a bundt pan and drizzled with a rum butter glaze. This recipe is a little different in that it's put together in layers and topped with a frosting rather than a glaze. So, it's my twist on a traditional rum cake, which is usually made from a box mix.
We don't really do box cake mixes around here, preferring to bake our cakes from scratch.
So how do you make a rum cake?
- Most cake recipes like this rum cake will use a very similar method. You will start by creaming the sugar and the butter together then add the eggs.
- The dry ingredients will be mixed together- flour, baking powder/baking soda, salt
- The wet ingredients will be mixed together- milk, vanilla, oil. Use homemade vanilla to make this cake really amazing!
- Wet and dry ingredients will be added to the butter and egg mixture in alternating turns.
Can you get drunk from eating food with alcohol?
Well, maybe... but probably not. In restaurant kitchens, we get asked a lot by guests to leave out the alcohol or to substitute it with something else, like chicken broth. Almost every time we get asked it's either for religious or health reasons. Never because someone was concerned they would drink too much.
It seems to be common knowledge that the cooking process evaporates any alcohol and you're left with the flavor. But it turns out that's not entirely true. This article talks about an experiment where the alcohol level of the diner was measured after each dish containing alcohol went up.
But, I suggest you take this all with a very large grain of salt. The "experiment" was conducted in a very ad lib kind of way with less than definitive results. And you would need to eat A LOT of rum cake to get drunk. You would be full to burst before you felt a buzz!
6 Tips to bake a better rum cake (or any cake)
- I learned a lot of things about cooking and baking during my 10 years in restaurant kitchens and these things may seem obvious, but it's always worth repeating.
- Read the entire recipe once before starting to bake or cook. That way you can make sure you have all the ingredients on hand before you start.
- Make sure your ingredients are all room temperature unless specified otherwise.
- For measuring dry ingredients use the dip and scoop method. Dip your measuring cup in the sugar or flour, scoop out the ingredients and level off with a knife.
- Measure all the ingredients and have them laid out before you start. This is called "mis-en-place" and it translates to "everything in place". It will help you bake and cook faster and with less stress.
- Line or grease all tins before you start. When certain ingredients are mixed together like baking powder and liquids, the active ingredient starts acting right away and work best when put in the oven right away.
I hope that you and your guests love this recipe as much as we do. I make about 3 of them every Christmas and there are never any leftovers!
THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING AND COOKING ALONG WITH ME! IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE OR HAVE A QUESTION, I’D LOVE IT IF YOU LEFT A COMMENT AND A RATING. YOU CAN ALSO FOLLOW ALONG ON PINTEREST, FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM TO SEE WHAT WE’RE EATING, PINNING AND A LITTLE BEHIND THE SCENES TOO! IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE BE SURE TO TAG ME ON INSTAGRAM! I LOVE SEEING WHAT YOU GUYS MAKE.
Pecan Caramel Rum Cake
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 225 g (1 cups) softened butter
- 200 g (1 cups) dark brown sugar
- 60 g (¼ cups) light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) vanilla
- 6 (6) eggs
- 335 g (2 ⅔ cups) self raising flour
- 225 g (2 cups) almond meal
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) cinnamon
- 125 ml (½ cups) milk
- 60 ml (4 tablespoon) dark rum
Cream Cheese Icing
- 500 g (2 ⅕ cups) cream cheese
- 100 g (½ cups) softened butter
- 2 cups (2 cups) icing sugar
- 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) vanilla
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) rum
To Serve
- Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup (1 cup) toasted pecans chopped
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350f. and grease and line 2x 8 inch round cake pans.
- Cream the butter, sugars and vanilla together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Add the eggs one at a time scraping down after each addition. In a separate mixing bowl, mix the flour, ground almonds, and cinnamon together. In a measuring jug mix the vanilla, milk, and rum. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk mixture into the cake, beginning and ending with the flour.
- Divide the batter between two 8inch round cake tins. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before turning the cake out.
For the Icing
- Mix all the ingredients together and set aside until the cake is cool enough to ice.
To assemble
- Split the cakes in half through the centre giving you 4 layers now.
- Place some of the frosting between each layer of cake before building up the next layer.
- On the top layer cover the top generously with frosting. Top with the chopped nuts in the centre and drizzle the salted caramel around the outside.
Lisa C says
Is there anyway this recipe can be reprinted in cups please? This would be a great recipe if printed in american measurements.
Debs says
HI Lisa, That's just been done. The imperial (American) measurements are in brackets next to the the metric weights. Let me know if you've got any questions. Happy baking! 🙂