QUADRUPLE RUM CAKE Makes 1 cake (8 to 12 pieces) By Dennis W. Viau; modified from an Internet recipe. This rum cake is strong with rum. The first time I ate it I told my friend, It burns a little going down. This is a scratch cake. Having a good formula and method of preparation for making scratch cakes is always an excellent addition to your kitchen library of recipes. Equipment Needed: A large Bundt pan, preferably cast aluminum with a nonstick surface, 10 to 15 cups. Ingredients: For the Cake: ½ cup (85g) crushed walnuts 1½ cups (312g) granulated sugar ½ cup (113g) butter; softened, at room temperature 3 tablespoons + ½ cup (118ml) cooking oil (corn, canola, grapeseed, or vegetable); divided 1¾ cup (7½ ounces / 213g) all-purpose flour or cake flour ¼ cup (21g) corn starch 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup (200g) instant vanilla pudding mix, or make your own mix (see below) ¾ cup (175ml) whole milk 4 large eggs ¾ cup (175ml) dark rum 4 teaspoons vanilla extract For the Rum Syrup: ½ cup (113g) butter or clarified butter ½ cup (118ml) water ¾ cup (156g) granulated sugar 1 teaspoon salt ½ cup (118ml) dark rum For the Caramel Rum Sauce: ½ cup (85g) brown sugar ½ cup (100g) sugar ¼ cup water 2 tablespoons butter ½ cup (118ml) heavy cream 3 tablespoons dark rum For the Topping: 1 cup heavy cream (double or even triple these proportions for a large crowd) 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons dark rum To Make Your Own Pudding Base: ¾ cup nonfat dry milk powder (see note at end) ¾ cup cornstarch 1 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 20120329
Directions: Grease, or spray with nonstick cooking spray, and flour the Bundt pan, tapping out excess flour. Crush the walnuts, if not already crushed, to the consistency of bread crumbs. Scatter them evenly into the bottom of the Bundt pan. Set aside until needed. Heat the oven to 325 F (about 165 C). Using either a mixer or a medium bowl and spatula, cream the sugar and butter together until smooth and homogeneous. Add 3 tablespoons of oil, flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Combine until well blended. Add the pudding mix powder and combine. The mixture will have the consistency of bread crumbs or corn meal. In a separate bowl, using either a mixer or a whisk, combine together the eggs, milk, rum, vanilla extract, and the ½ cup of oil. Blend well. Add the dry mixture and combine completely. The batter should be smooth and thin, easy to pour. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. (I use a digital thermometer and aim for an internal temperature of 195 F to 205 F (90 C to 96 C)). Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Then invert the pan onto the cooling rack to release the cake and let cool for an additional 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, wash and dry the Bundt pan. You ll need it again. While the cake cools, prepare the rum syrup by combining the butter, water, granulated sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring often, to reduce the volume. Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. Place the clean Bundt pan over the cooled cake and again invert the cake back into the pan. Slowly pour hot syrup over the cake, letting it soak into the cake. You can assist this step by piercing the cake all around the top with something wider than a toothpick, such as the probe of a digital thermometer or a skewer. A meat carving fork with round tines would suffice. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours. It does not need to be refrigerated. (I turned the cake over after a few hours to let the syrup distribute more evenly.) To make the caramel sauce, heat the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and water in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Watch carefully to observe the color. It should start to darken around the edges. Alternatively, you can use a candy thermometer and heat to 350 F (175 C). This is hot. It will smell like it s starting to burn. For a lighter sauce, cook to only 300 F (150 C). Meanwhile, heat the cream until warm but not hot. Remove the hot syrup from the heat and, using a wooden spoon or wire whisk, stir vigorously to keep the sugar from burning. Whisk in the cream (caution: it will boil up violently) and butter. Continue whisking until blended and smooth (no solid sugar). If the sugar congeals in the whisk and/or refuses to dissolve, stir the pan over medium heat until dissolved. Add the rum and whisk until blended. Set aside, covered, and allow to cool until warm. It can be warmed later if made ahead. Before serving, whip the heavy cream and sugar in a mixer to form soft peaks. Add the rum and gently fold into the cream with a spatula. To serve, slice a wedge of cake and arrange on a serving plate. Spoon some of the flavored cream over the top. Finally, drizzle caramel sauce over the cream and pool a little sauce onto the plate around the cake. Rum in the cake batter, rum in the syrup, rum in the whipped cream, and rum in the caramel sauce make this a quadruple rum cake. The Step By Step guide begins on the following page. 2
1 STEP-BY-STEP 3 Here is my mise en place for this cake. My one concern was the flour. The original recipe did not say whether the measured flour was scooped (from the container) or sifted (into the measuring cup) to yield 1¾ cups flour. I always weigh my flour. As this is a baking recipe, and these recipes commonly use sifted flour, I estimated a total of 7½ ounces (213g) flour, which worked very well. This would be about 1½ cups scooped flour or 1¾ cups sifted flour. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 325 F (about 165 C). 2 If you need to crush the walnuts, place them in a ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin or mallet. I used my WhackerSpoon. You could also use a small food processor or blender.
3 4 The crushed walnuts should resemble crumbs with a few larger pieces; no large chunks. 4 Grease and flour your Bundt pan. I sprayed mine with nonstick cooking spray. Tap out any excess flour and then arrange the walnuts in the bottom. When the cake is baked this will give it a nutty top, although a lot of the walnuts will disappear into the batter.
5 5 Cream the butter and sugar together. This is why the butter should be at room temperature. Blend until the mixture is homogeneous. 6 Add the 3 tablespoons oil, flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt. Blend until well combined. I found it easiest to work with a pastry cutter. Then add the 1 cup of pudding mix and blend well.
7 6 Combine the wet ingredients: milk, eggs, rum, and vanilla extract. Mix well. Then pour into the dry ingredients and blend thoroughly. (I did this last step in my stand mixer). 8 Pour the batter into the Bundt pan and bake 60 to 70 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Mine baked for 65 minutes and I always use a digital thermometer. An internal temperature above 195 (90 C) indicates it s done. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a cooling rack.
9 7 After 10 minutes, place the cooking rack on top of the cake pan and invert everything to release the cake onto the cooling rack. Let the cake cool 20 to 30 minutes. Wash and dry the Bundt pan. You ll use it again. 10 While the cake is cooling, assemble your ingredients for the rum syrup.
11 8 Combine the butter, water, sugar, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer to thicken slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the rum. Blend well and set aside until the cake is cooled. 12 Return the cake to the cleaned Bundt pan by placing the pan (lining up the edge pattern) over the cake and inverting everything again to settle the cake into the pan again. Heat the syrup until nearly boiling, if necessary, and gently pour the syrup over the cake, letting it soak into it. You can assist this step by piercing the top of the cake in several places with something like a skewer. Cover with plastic and let the cake sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours.
13 9 After a few hours I inverted the cake again onto a plate to let any liquid syrup distribute evenly. (The shine is from the syrup.) 14 The last step is to make the caramel-rum sauce and whipped cream that will be used to garnish this cake when serving. Here is my mise en place for these two garnishes.
15 10 Combine the brown sugar, white sugar, and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring all the time, until the liquid becomes dark and clear. I used a candy thermometer to bring the temperature up to almost 350 F (about 175 C). Meanwhile, warm the cream. Remove the syrup from the heat and continue stirring as you add the cream. Careful, it will boil up. Stir, stir, stir. If the sugar crystallizes, return to the heat and continue stirring to dissolve it. Finally, add the rum and mix well. Cover and set aside to cool. 16 Combine the cream and sugar; whip to soft peaks. Add the rum and fold gently to incorporate.
17 11 To serve, place a slice of cake on a serving dish. Spoon some of the cream on top, letting it drape down the sides. Garnish with some of the caramel-rum sauce and pool a little of the sauce in the bottom of the plate. This cake has excellent presentation value. It also tastes delicious. Addendum Since publishing this recipe on my web site, I heard from a Danish TV station. They were filming a cooking competition series and the day s challenge for the contestants was to bake a cake in which one of the ingredients was an alcoholic beverage. The judges were confectioners. The contestant who won made this Quadruple Rum Cake. At the end of the episode he gave credit to my web site as the source of the recipe. Someone from the station visited my web site and then wrote to tell me about the contest winner. How cool is that? Conclusion The original rum cake recipe only called for baking the cake and then slicing and serving, without any toppings. I added the cream and caramel sauce to finish the presentation to a delicious and decadent dessert. This cake is rich and sweet, aromatic with the heady flavor of dark rum. With rum in all four segments of this dessert the cake, syrup, cream, and the caramel sauce this is truly a Quadruple Rum Cake. Note To the horror of one friend, when making the pudding mix I substituted non-dairy coffee creamer powder for the nonfat dry milk powder. It works. I prepared some pudding, adding vanilla extract, and served it to a friend who has discriminating taste. He liked it. To make the pudding as a dessert: Mix ½ cup of powder mix with 2 cups milk in a saucepan. Heat to boiling. If using nonfat dry milk powder, cook about 3 minutes over low heat to thicken slightly, stirring constantly to prevent scorching on the bottom of the pan. No cooking is needed to thicken pudding mix made with nondairy coffee creamer. Remove from the heat and add your favorite flavoring, such as a teaspoon of vanilla extract or a tablespoon of cocoa powder or chocolate milk mix. Blend and serve warm or cold.