Curtis & Cake’s Butter Rum Bundt
Monica O’Connell makes one-of-a-kind wedding and celebration cakes through her independent, small-batch cake and sweets studio in Fort Atkinson called Curtis & Cake. The “Curtis” is for the soul singer Curtis Mayfield and gestures to O’Connell’s love of the arts, music, culture and history. She cherishes foodways of the American South and generously offers her adaptation of her mother’s recipe for Butter Rum Cake.
Ingredients
Batter
- 3 3/4 sticks softened butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder (aluminum-free if possible)
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 5 eggs
- 3 Tbsp sour cream
- 1/4 cup rum (I use Bacardi Gold in honor of my mom’s version, but also really like Cane & Abe Small Barrel or Plantation Pineapple Rum)
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
For the glaze
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup rum
Optional
- 1 cup toasted pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F
- Butter and lightly flour a 10 or 12 cup Bundt pan
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (5-7 minutes). Meanwhile sift together flour, powder, and salt, and set aside. In a smaller bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, rum and vanilla. Pour into butter mixture and cream until smooth. Add the dry ingredients in two batches, scraping the bowl in between.
- If using, layer toasted pecans in bottom of Bundt; pour in batter. Bake about an hour, rotating pan after 30 minutes. Just watch and smell; It’s done when a poked-in knife comes out clean.
- Make the glaze while the cake is cooling. Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in ¼ cup water and the sugar. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum.
- Carefully release cake from pan. Poke small holes all over it with a toothpick. Pour ¾ of the glaze into the bottom of the cake pan and return cake. Pour remaining glaze over the exposed bottom of cake. When all of the glaze has soaked into cake, invert onto a plate.