Honey Rum Cake

In Paris, honey rum cake is served in a variety of presentations. One bistro serves the cake with an entire bottle of rum, which you then pour into the desired amount. Another restaurant fills its rum cake recipe with jelly (as in jelly donuts). One of my favorite presentations involves a puddle of custard that serves as a pillow for the fantastic and moist rum cake that sits on top.

History of rum cake

When researching the origins of rum cake, I learned that the recipe was inspired by figgy pudding and other steamed puddings made famous before the 16th century in the United Kingdom. The recipe for steamed pudding is complicated, and most amateur cooks aren’t fond of following all the steps. The Rum cake recipe was invented in honor of steamed pudding by early settlers who arrived in the Caribbean. Rum cake is still trendy in the Caribbean.

Move over fruit cake.

Today, this recipe is considered old-school. My friend’s grandmother made it with boxed ingredients (Duncan Hines) at Christmas each year. I notice that rum cake comes around each year in different forms, especially in the Italian markets at holiday time. We’ve replaced refined sugar with honey (for the most part) to make this special.

When making this honey rum cake recipe, you can use a muffin tin or a multi-mini bundt pan and make a bunch of mini cakes, a bread pan, or a traditional bundt pan. Serve with whipped cream, ice cream, fresh fruit, berries, or dried fruit with a bit of honey drizzled on top.

Spice up this honey rum cake recipe

We encourage you to play with our recipes and make them your own. This rum cake recipe is easy to mix up and make your own! Here are some of our suggestions:

• Add chopped apples to the batter before baking
• Blend in chocolate chips
• Pick another dried fruit and replace the raisins or cherries.
• Stuff it with our honey strawberry jam
• Fill the center of the dessert with the finely chopped candied nuts of your choice.

How to Make Rum Cake

1. Scald the milk. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Set aside.
2. Sprinkle yeast into lukewarm water. Stir. Set aside ’til foamy (about 5 minutes).
3. Lightly beat egg yolks, whole egg, and sugar together. Add cooled milk and yeast mixture, then stir in the lemon zest, and dried fruit in rum and flour.
4. Place dough in an oiled bowl and turn the dough to coat it. Cover and allow to rise, covered, in a warm, dry place until doubled in size (about an hour).
5. Stir the dough and spoon it into buttered or nonstick muffin tins, filling cups two-thirds full.
6. Allow to rise in a warm place until the dough reaches the tops of the cups, about 30 minutes.
7. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
8. Bake the cake for 15-20 minutes, until golden and risen to a smooth round shape.
9. While baking, make the syrup by boiling honey, sugar, water, and a cinnamon stick in a small, heavy saucepan until reduced to about 1/2 cup.
10. Remove from heat and stir in the almond or vanilla extract. Remove the cinnamon stick and set aside.
11. Unfold the cake and transfer it to a shallow pan. Prick the bottom with a fork and pour hot syrup over the cake.
12. Baste the cake with the remaining syrup as it cools.
13. Serve with a garnish of your choice.

Honey Rum Cake Recipe

Course: Dessert

Keyword: Honey Rum Cake

Servings: 12

Calories: 225kcal

Move over fruit cake, this rum cake recipe is a blast from the past that will entertain your friends and family year-round. A classic recipe with all sorts of ideas on how to make it your own!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/4 c milk
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/4 c warm 105-115 degrees water
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon zest grated
• 2 tbsp. golden raisins or dried cherries
• 1 1/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour

Syrup

• 1/2 c Waxing Kara Honey
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 c water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• almond or vanilla extract
• 1/2 c dark rum

Instructions

• Scald the milk. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Set aside.
• Sprinkle yeast into lukewarm water. Stir. Set aside ’til foamy (about 5 minutes).
• Lightly beat egg yolks, whole egg, and sugar together. Add cooled milk mixture and yeast mixture, then stir in the lemon zest, dried fruit in rum and flour.
• Place dough in an oiled bowl and turn the dough to coat it. Cover and allow to rise, covered, in a warm dry place until doubled in size (about an hour).
• Stir the dough down and spoon it into buttered or nonstick muffin tins, filling cups two-thirds full.
• Allow rising in a warm place until the dough reaches the tops of the cups, about 30 minutes.
• While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Bake the cake for 15-20 minutes, or until they are golden and risen to a smooth round shape.
• While baking, make the syrup by boiling honey, sugar, water and cinnamon stick in a small, heavy saucepan until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Remove from heat and stir in the almond or vanilla extract and from. Remove the cinnamon stick and set aside.
• Unfold the cake and transfer to a shallow pan. Prick the bottom with a fork and pour hot syrup over the cake. Baste cake with remaining syrup as it cools.
• Serve with a garnish of your choice.

Nutrition

Calories: 225kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 46mg | Potassium: 60mg | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 195IU | Vitamin C: 0.7mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 0.9mg

This honey rum cake recipe is adapted from The Vegetarian Bistro cookbook by Marlena Spieler.