Buttered rum...but make it poundcake!

I realize that I should be writing about Valentine's day before Valentine's Day, to get the inspiration flowing. This year it crept on me, but I whipped up a rum poundcake for my husband so delightful, I would be remiss not to share.

On this feast-for-a-martyred-saint-turned-Hallmark-holiday, we stay low key, but still celebrate one another. We loop in our only child as well. The three of us do the same thing every year: Put on our PJs, pick out a movie, and feast on take-out. My son picked the Barbie movie, my husband chose Thai, and I trotted out the homemade rum poundcake for dessert. 

With crumbs still on my chin, I scribbled the recipe down on an index card where it sat for well over a decade. It's a family recipe, albeit not my own family. And no one said I couldn't share! The pudding mix makes the cake dense and moist, while the buttered rum topping makes it ..spirited! Best of all, there are no tricks. It's pretty easy to make. Here's a photo of me setting a romantic tone for movie night, with a vintage hand mixer on my hip.

 

My only advice is to use a nicer rum for this - if you use the cheapest rum in the store, the finish will be a little harsh. 

Ellie's Buttered Rum Poundcake

Cake ingredients

• 1 box of Duncan Hines Buttercake
• 1 pack of vanilla pudding
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup rum
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water

Sauce Ingredients

• 1/4 cup rum
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 stick of butter

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Farenheit
• Mix all the cake ingredients until damp
• Grease a bundt pan with butter or coconut oil spray
• Pour in the mix and bake for 1 hour
• While the cake is baking, add all the sauce ingredients togeether in a sauce pan
• Boil it for 3 minutes over a warm fire
• Allow it to cool and thicken a bit before puring over the cake, so it isn't watery and the topping stays on top, rather than sinking to the bottom
• Once the cake is ready, remove it from the bundt pan immediately
• Drizzle with the cooled-off sauce

This is great to enjoy warmed up, or with a scoop of ice cream. My son was worried it would make him "drunk" and only ate half a slice. I did make the mistake of adding too much rum to the sauce, and now realize sublety is key. Regardless, my husband snatched his plate and finished off his slice too. It was that good.