Back sometime in November I made the mistake of buying a small box of Tortuga Rum cake I've seen on sale at the nearby TJ Maxx. I brought home and opened the box for a small taste before dinner.
It was amazing! Eugene assisted my freak-out minor that I raved about the moist rum cake, gold studded with a small pinch of crushed walnuts. Before I knew it, I had eaten the entire cake and walked around the room with a happy buzz.
The next day after work, I went back to TJ Maxx and bought two cakes plus - full-size this time. I proceeded to spend the coming weeks eating Cake rum every night, returning to TJ Maxx regularly to replenish my supply. During a visit, I finally realized that it would be more sensible to buy just every cake they had left in stock (Yes, that "makes sense" for me)... so I did. I was so excited at the idea of bringing home all these cakes that it did not even occur to me to be embarrassed when I entered in the registry with a tower of 8 cakes rum balanced in my arms.
"These are really, really good," I told the puzzled cashier.
It was at the height of planning my wedding, and I have a regular supply of rum cake every night credit with helping me to keep my sanity. (Miraculously, I still managed to lose a little pre-wedding weight; this may have to do with the fact that I essentially replaced dinner with cake.)
When I returned in January, the first thing on my agenda was recreating this cake at home. I searched on the Internet for recipes, but all I found was based on a combination of mixtures of cake and canned milk. I wanted to make the cake of rum from scratch, without bags of powdery substances. I finally found a recipe that was all from scratch, except for the pudding mixture (this, I'm sure that you guessed it, is what led me to my explorations in the House made vanilla pudding mixture). Not perfect, but certainly a start!
After a few trials and errors, I thought about it I've adjusted the recipe slightly and then replaces the mixture to packaged milk called for in the recipe with a cup of my own House Blend (essentially a combination of powdered milk and cornstarch). I pulled from the oven, poured over the syrup and eagerly until the morning to see if it worked.
The results were brilliant!
Rum butter syrup absorbed evenly into the cake and leave you with a cake moist, sweet, Golden speckled with flecks of vanilla bean. The texture of the cake is absolutely perfect, soft and fluffy without being spongy. Because the ingredients are all together and from scratch, it lacks the nuances of artificial flavor of the "semi-homemade" version
The dough comes together easily, with not much more effort than a cake mix, but the results are much better. The rum in the cake and syrup can be adjusted according to your tastes. If you try to recreate the cake of Tortuga (that of the hexagonal yellow boxes found at airports throughout the Caribbean - and TJ Maxx), I recommend getting a bottle of rum from Tortuga, located in various places online. You can also use infused or spicy as Bacardi Coco or the Captain Morgan rums, but honestly, I prefer the simplicity and rich flavor of a dark old bottle (like Bacardi Anejo).
****
New to always order Dessert? Sign up to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook or subscribe to receive my updates once a week e-mail by filling out your address in the box on the right. And if you need entertaining advice or cooking, feel free to send me an email. Thanks for reading!
Cake rum (from scratch!)
Adapted to be entirely a recipe found on Food.com HouseIngredients
for the cake:
1/2 cup of nuts, crushed
1 1/2 cup of white sugar granulated
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
3 tablespoons + 1/2 cup oil Grapeseed or canola, separated
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 tsp. baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
DIY 1 cup vanilla instant pudding mix (click here for my mixture of easy House pudding recipe!; if you prefer, you can also use packaged pudding mix)
3/4 cups of full milk
4 large eggs
3/4 cup dark rum (recommended: Tortuga Rum)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extractfor the rum syrup:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 cup of water
3/4 cup white sugar granulated
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup Dark Rum
Special equipment: A cut of 10-15 Bundt panPreheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour bundt pan, place the crushed nuts in the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
In the basis of a mixer, cream sugar 1 1/2 cup granulated and the 1/2 cup butter. Add 3 tablespoons of oil, flour, corn starch, baking powder and kosher salt combine until evenly distributed. (Mixture resembles fine crumbs.) Mix the pudding mix.
In another bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, rum, vanilla extract and the rest of the vegetable oil. Add to the dry mixture and mix well. The dough will be smooth and thin and pour easily.
Pour into the prepared bundt pan and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the cake comes clean.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then return on a grid. Cool for 20 to 30 minutes.
While the cake has cooled, prepare the rum syrup: in a large high-sided saucepan, mix butter, water, granulated sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until the butter is completely melted sugar is dissolved. Let reduce slightly, keeping an eye on it, so it is not overwhelmed. Remove from heat and stir in the rum (it will bubble).
Wash and dry the bundt pan, then cover the cake cool and invert the cake in the pan. Pour the hot rum syrup all over the cake and leave to soak for 8 hours (overnight). In the morning, invert the cake on a serving dish. Guard covered for 1 week at room temperature.
No comments:
Post a Comment