Tortuga Rum Cake

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“Why is the rum always gone?” Are you a Pirates of the Caribbean fan? You won’t actually need to go to the Caribbean to buy the rum for this Tortuga Rum Cake, though that might be fun. I remember when I saw the first commercial on TV…I was horrified!! Un-dead ghost skeletons…in a Disney movie? I think my kids were about 10 and 13 at that point, and neither was too keen about scary movies. So that was that…or so I thought…..

My parents took all of the grand kids on a Disney cruise that year and Pirates of the Caribbean became my daughter’s absolute favorite movie! In fact, one of the first things she said when she got off the plane was “you have to buy Pirates of the Caribbean when it comes out on video!” So I did…now it’s to the point now where we know all of the words, not many surprises left after all these years, lol.

Well this Tortuga Rum Cake is a very nice surprise!! It’s moist and airy like a pound cake, but topped with chopped pecans and soaked in RUM!! Jack Sparrow would be in rum heaven. 🙂

This is one of my trickiest Cocktail Cakes, but it is still really simple to make…and well worth the effort!

How to make Tortuga Rum Cake:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously spray the inside of a 12 cup bundt pan with baking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, pudding mix, baking powder, salt, and butter. Beat on low until mix resembled small pebbles…..

Add the eggs, milk, rum, oil and vanilla extract. Beat until well combined and smooth, scraping the sides as needed…..

Evenly sprinkle the chopped pecans or walnuts into the bottom of the bundt pan…..

Pour in the cake batter, tap on the counter to remove air bubbles, and bake for 55 to 60 minutes until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.

Remove cake from oven and set on a cooling rack to cool while you make the Rum Syrup.

In a small saucepan, combine the butter, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until sugar is dissolved and begins to thicken…..

Remove from heat and stir in the rum. Slowly begin to pour the syrup over the cake {while still warm, but it doesn’t have to be immediately}.

Allow syrup to soak in and continue until all syrup has been used…..

Allow cake to cool completely in the pan {preferably overnight}. Carefully remove cake from the bundt pan. This cake is rather delicate and you can not move it once it is on the cake plate. 😉

The outside is sweet and slightly crunchy. The inside is moist and almost delicate, and the rum flavor mixed with the butter is pure heaven!!

If you do not have official Caribbean rum, any gold rum will work…just make sure you use a good quality rum or it will taste bitter…trust me on this one. 😉 I happened to have a bottle of rum from St. Croix sitting around from when the kids went on that cruise, and I decided to put it to good use.

I used the name Tortuga Rum Cake because of my love of Pirates of the Caribbean, but this cake is not an exact copycat of the original. I do not like walnuts, so I used pecans…and I did not use the exact rum sold in Tortuga, but at least it is still from the Caribbean! 😉

Enjoy!!

Tortuga Rum Cake

Ya best be hiding this Tortuga Rum Cake from Jack Sparrow, because he's not one for sharing!!

4.29 from 7 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Caribbbean

Keyword: cake, rum, recipe, tortuga, scratch

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings: 12 Servings

Calories: 622kcal

Author: Lisa Johnson

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3.5 ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened CashewMilk)
• 2/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup gold rum
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans

Rum Syrup

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup gold rum

Instructions

To Make the Cake

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously spray the inside of a 12 cup bundt pan with baking spray, set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, pudding mix, baking powder, salt, and butter. Beat on low until mix resembled small pebbles.
• Add the eggs, milk, rum, oil and vanilla extract. Beat until well combined and smooth, scraping the sides as needed.
• Evenly sprinkle the chopped pecans/walnuts into the bundt pan. Pour in the cake batter, tap on the counter to remove air bubbles, and bake for 55 to 60 minutes until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.
• Remove cake from oven and set on a cooling rack while you make the Rum Syrup.

To Make the Rum Syrup

• In a small saucepan, combine the butter, water, and sugar.
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until sugar is dissolved and begins to thicken.
• Remove from heat and stir in the rum.
• Slowly begin to pour the syrup over the cake {while still warm}. Allow syrup to soak in and continue until all syrup has been used.
• Allow cake to cool completely in the pan {preferably overnight}.
• Carefully remove cake from the bundt pan. This cake is rather delicate and you can not move it once it is on the cake plate.

Nutrition

Calories: 622kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 103mg | Sodium: 279mg | Potassium: 208mg | Sugar: 49g | Vitamin A: 580IU | Calcium: 89mg | Iron: 0.7mg