A few years ago, I found myself at a family friend’s holiday party with my parents. Teens know the drill—there’s not much to look forward to beyond some heavy conversation with older adults and a doozy of a cheese and pâté platter. You amble back and forth between each of your parents, indulge too much in the hors d’oeuvres, and find way too much interest in the guest bathroom decor.
Dessert always makes these affairs much more pleasant, and lo and behold, one of the contributions to the end of evening dessert table was a rum cake. I decided to skip over the grocery store cookies and double chocolate brownies for a slice of that golden bundt cake, and I INHALED it.
It was fantastic—sweet with a dense but moist crumb that had the perfect surprising hint of booziness and one of the best bundt recipes I’ve had.
So. Good.
I made it a serious priority to find a recipe to match that one (I don’t think I had the wherewithal to ask the person who made it because I was in a rum-cake-induced shock.)
I finally stumbled upon a wonderful rum cake recipe from Alejandra at Always Order Dessert, who makes a fantastic Tortuga rum cake copycat. Her recipe is spot on, but we made a few tweaks here and there in order to adapt it for our tastes.
Namely, we replaced the walnuts with pecans, swapped vegetable oil with olive oil to give it a richer flavor, and we upped the amount of vanilla extract. We also decided to leave out the rum syrup, a popular finishing touch for rum cakes as we like a dryer crumb and a more delicate rum flavor.
Olive Oil Pecan Rum Cake: Recipe Instructions
If you’re going to make homemade vanilla pudding mix, mix together those ingredients before you begin. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Grease and flour a bundt pan…
…and sprinkle half of the crushed pecans along the bottom. Some fine pecan dust alongside the larger chunks is just fine. Set the pan aside along with the rest of your pecans.
In an electric mixer, cream 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar with 1 stick of butter.
Add 3 tablespoons of your olive oil. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 3/4 cups flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
With the mixer on low, add the dry mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Then add in the pudding mix. Scrape down the sides and then turn on the mixer again to combine evenly. The mixture is very dry and will look like fine crumbs.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, rum, vanilla extract, and remaining 1/2 cup of olive oil. With the mixer on low, add it to the dry mixture and mix well until combined.
Pour into your prepared bundt pan.
Mix the rest of your pecans with the extra tablespoon each of flour and sugar. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the batter.
Bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes up clean. Try a few different areas and if the toothpick comes up clean but glistens slightly, give it an extra 10-15 min. The addition of the pudding mix makes it so that the cake sets, but is still a bit gelatinous. In other words, your cake may need a bit more time in the oven.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes, then invert onto your serving platter. Serve with a nice cup of hot coffee!
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Recipe
Olive Oil Pecan Rum Cake
Ingredients
For the homemade pudding mix (you can also substitute 1 cup store-bought instant vanilla pudding mix):
- 1/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (plus 3 tablespoons)
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
For the rest of the cake:
- 1 cup pecans (finely crushed)
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (plus 1 tablespoon)
- 1 stick unsalted butter (4 ounces/110g)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil (plus 1/2 cup)
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus 1 tablespoon)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 3/4 cup dark rum
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- If you’re going to make homemade vanilla pudding mix, mix together those ingredients before you begin. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Grease and flour a bundt pan, and sprinkle half of the crushed pecans along the bottom. Some fine pecan dust alongside the larger chunks is just fine. Set aside the pan and the rest of your pecans.
- In an electric mixer, cream 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar with 1 stick of butter. Add 3 tablespoons of your olive oil. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 3/4 cups flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
- With the mixer on low, add the dry mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Then add in the pudding mix. Scrape down the sides and then turn on the mixer again to combine evenly. The mixture is very dry and will look like fine crumbs.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, rum, vanilla extract, and remaining 1/2 cup of olive oil. With the mixer on low, add it to the dry mixture and mix well until combined. Pour into your prepared bundt pan.
- Mix the rest of your pecans with the extra tablespoon each of flour and sugar. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the batter.
- Bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes up clean. Try a few different areas and if the toothpick comes up clean but glistens slightly, give it an extra 10-15 min. The addition of the pudding mix makes it so that the cake sets, but is still a bit gelatinous. In other words, your cake may need a bit more time in the oven.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes, then invert onto your serving platter.
