Rum Cake - Because the Diet Starts Next Week!

This Recipe Will Become A Seasonal Favorite - It Is at Our House!

Cake Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (I tend to use a bit more because I love them!)
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 box of vanilla instant pudding mix (3.4 oz - regular size box - 4 servings)
• 1/2 cup light rum (I can get a little heavy handed with this too!)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 eggs

Glaze Ingredients:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup light rum (maybe a smidgen more)
• 1/4 cup water

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 12 cup bundt pan (I use a silicone one that I got as a gift - it cooks perfectly evenly and is a cinch to clean!) or (2) 6 bundtlette pans with cooking spray and then flour. TIP - Cooking spray alone is not enough - be sure to coat the cooking spray with a dusting of flour - this will make for a perfect looking cake!
2. Sprinkle chopped pecans over bottom of pan. 
3. Stir cake mix and pudding mix and stir together in a large mixing bowl. Add rum, water, oil and eggs. Beat for 2 minutes with an electric mixer. 
4. Pour cake batter over nuts and bake for 45-50 minutes. I f you are making the smaller cakes, spoon batter evenly into each pan (about 2/3 cup each) and bake for 20 minutes.
5. When there is about 5 minutes left, prepare the glaze. 
6. To Make the Glaze: Place the sugar, butter, rum and water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil for 3 minutes - stirring occasionally to keep from burning.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and slowly spoon the glaze onto the hot cake. Keep doing this until all the glaze has been absorbed into the cake - use ALL the glaze - it will get absorbed as the cake cools. 
8. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes. 
9. 'Unmold' the cake and let if finish cooling on a wire rack.

TIP - Serve it with a dusting of powdered sugar if you like!

This Rum Cake has become a part of our Christmas Family Tradition.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!