Easy Rum Cake without using Instant Pudding

Last Updated on December 14, 2021 by Jane

One cake that stands out from events from my childhood is a rum cake. There was a woman who made them up at the cottage and whenever we were celebrating an event my mom would order one. It was SO GOOD. Chances are she made it from scratch but I have found an easy way to make a great Rum Cake.

This is a hack on a box cake. Basically the golden cake is the base but I substitute some of the liquid ingredients for the rum.

Most rum cakes call for a golden rum, but since I didn’t have that type of rum on hand I decided to try making it with my Bracardi Razz instead. I was VERY happy with the results.

When I first made this cake it was for my son and my double Birthday party. I had already made carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing and had some icing left over. I had pulled the rum cake out of the bunt pan too early and part of it broke off in the pan. I was able to piece it back together but it didn’t look all that pretty, so I used the left over icing to cover up my mistake. BEST.IDEA.EVER. The flavours went together so well that I made the icing this time around specifically for this cake.

So here we go this is how to make my Bracardi Razz Rum Cake without Instant Pudding

What you need:

1 box of Golden Yellow Cake

3 large eggs

1/2 cup rum

1/2 cup water or milk (I have made it both ways & prefer milk)

1/2 cup oil (I like using coconut oil)

raisins and/or chopped nuts (optional)

1 bunt pan

Follow the instructions on the box, but substitute the liquid ingredients here for  those listed on the box. Make sure to grease the bunt pan well and then sprinkle in the raisins or nuts or both in the pan before you put in the batter. Then continue to bake the cake according to the box (approximately 40 mins at 350F for a bundt pan)

I am not a food technician or any sort of specialist in the kitchen but I don’t know why so many recipies call for instant pudding. Perhaps it makes a denser or fuller cake. Either way I do not feel like this cake is missing out on anything because when it comes right down to it, it is the glaze that gives this cake exceptional flavour.

Next you need to make the Rum Glaze

What you need:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup rum

1 cup sugar

Bring the butter, water and sugar to a boil on medium heat. Let it continue to boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly. After 5 minutes take it off the heat and stir in the rum.

Once the cake is complete and the glaze is finished now is time to glaze the cake. Depending how boozy you like your rum cake you could actually cut the above glaze recipe in half and still have enough glaze for the cake.

I personally used a brush to paint on the majority of the glaze. The first time I got bored half way through instead of flipping over the cake to paint the other side I simply poured the excess over and let it soak up from the bottom. Well, let me tell you that cake had some kick!

For a more even distribution brush on the glaze. Or if you want to pour then perhaps a half batch of glaze is enough. I am still toying with this process – let me know in the comments how you do it!

The Cream cheese icing is optional but I really think it takes this rum cake to the next level.

What you need:

1 package of Cream Cheese 8 oz, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups of icing sugar (this is 1 cup less than the recipe you will find from Kraft, but I find MANY recipes today call for too much sugar, or rather I have been able to cut out a cup or two without compromising the recipes).

Cream together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Once blended, add sugar gradually.

And there you have it, an easy rum cake without adding instant pudding. I like the Bracardi Razz with it because of the raspberry flavour but I think this cake would be just as good with a golden rum as rum cakes are traditionally made. In fact if you prefer a more subtle rum taste I would go with the golden rum.

Also note that this cake gets better with age. In fact I would strongly recommend to make this cake at least the day before you plan to serve it to allow the glaze to really soak in properly.

Let me know if you make this cake and if you have any tweaks to the recipe!