Two weeks ago I magically got involved in a “bake off” with a good friend at work.  Our two departments have a semi-important meeting tomorrow, we thought we would have a little fun, and the next thing I know he and I are fighting for bragging rights.

I love baking.

Initially I was going to make a double layer white and chocolate cake but then the rules were set – we could not make an item we were comfortable with. After some thinking I decided, hey, I’m going with a spiced rum cake!

It is hard to find a recipe that doesn’t call for a box mix, so I went with my own version:

Spiced Rum Cake

2 cups cake flour

1 package of instant vanilla pudding

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

4  eggs

1/2 canola oil

1/2 cup water

1/2 Captain Morgan spiced rum

1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1) Pre heat your oven to 325 degrees

2) Mix your flour, instant vanilla pudding, salt, baking powder,  sugar, eggs, oil, water and rum until there are no lumps in the mixture.

3) Grease a 5 by 10 baking pan, pour in mixture

4) Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top of cake

5) Bake for 45 minutes at 325, then raise the heat to 350 and bake for an additional 15 to 25 minutes – you want to have the nuts brown to release the flavor.

6) Once finished, remove the cake from oven and let sit for 10 minutes and add the glaze (see below).

The Glaze

1 Cup of powdered sugar

1 table spoon of melted butter

1 teaspoon Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

Warm water (as needed)

1) Mix powdered sugar, butter and rum.

2) Add water by the teaspoon to your desired consistency.  Note  - chances are you will not want to go beyond 3 teaspoons as the consistency will become to watery.

3) Drizzle over cake and let set.

And the result…

Spiced Rum Cake with Walnuts

It took me some tweaking to get my white cake recipe down, not so in this case. First time out I managed to knock it out of the park.

I am blown away by this creation.

The vanilla pudding helps hold in the moisture and the nuts add a flavor that compliments the rum perfectly. This is  a cake that can be taken everywhere – parties, dinner gatherings, work events… You will not be disappointed in any way.

There is a variation to this recipe I am trying, expect the post tomorrow.