Caribbean

Serving

Rum Cake

Name: Rum Cake
Total time: 120 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Caribbean
Ingredients: Cake: 2 cups flour; 1 1/2 cups sugar; 1/2 cup butter; 1/2 cup oil; 4 eggs; 1/2 cup dark rum; 1/2 cup milk. Syrup: 1/2 cup butter; 1 cup sugar; 1/4 cup water; 1/2 cup dark rum

Indulge in the quintessential Caribbean celebration cake! This decadent, incredibly moist dessert is drenched in a luxurious, sweet, and buttery dark rum syrup that melts in your mouth.

120 minutes

Serves 8

Dessert

42 min prep

66 min cook

Contains common allergens

Egg Dairy Wheat

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Instructions

5 steps

1
Make the batter: Preheat oven to 325°F. Cream the butter, oil, and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
2
Alternate wet and dry: Whisk the flour and baking powder. In another bowl, mix the milk, rum, and vanilla. Add the dry and wet ingredients alternately to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the dry.
3
Bake: Pour the batter into a heavily greased Bundt pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Leave the cake in the pan.
4
Make the rum syrup: In a saucepan, melt the butter, stir in the sugar and water. Bring to a rolling boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully stir in the dark rum.
5
Soak the cake: While the cake is still warm in the pan, poke holes all over the bottom. Pour the hot rum syrup over the cake slowly, letting it absorb. Let it sit for at least 2 hours before inverting onto a plate.

Rum Cake — plated and served — Serving moment. How Rum Cake looks plated and ready to eat — a representative photo, not a step in the recipe.

Listahan Family Score™

68/100

Works for many families

Allergen-friendly 70

Kid-friendly 55

Weeknight-easy 54

Budget-friendly 86

Great leftovers 87

Pantry-friendly 67

Score reflects how well this recipe fits a typical busy household. In the app, your Family Score is personalized to your household's allergens, kids, and pantry.

Nutrition

per serving

635

Calories

4 g

Protein

64 g

Carbs

39 g

Fat

Estimated per serving. Actual values depend on the brands and portions you use.

Listahan cooking guide

Chef notes & practical guide

Technique notes, ingredient swaps, serve-alongside ideas, storage guidance, and equipment for this recipe.

Cultural context

Caribbean rum cake descends from the British figgy puddings the colonizers brought, reworked over generations with the islands' own dark rum. The soaked, butter-rum syrup style here is the lighter everyday cousin of the dense, fruit-laden Jamaican black cake served at Christmas and weddings. It is a year-round bakery and home cake throughout the islands.

Listahan note

This version pours a hot butter-rum syrup over the warm cake while it is still in the pan, because pouring hot onto warm is what lets the cake drink in the syrup evenly instead of pooling on top.

Technique cues

Adding the dry and wet ingredients alternately, beginning and ending with dry, keeps the batter emulsified so it does not curdle or overmix into toughness.
Removing the syrup from the heat before stirring in the rum preserves more of the rum aroma instead of boiling it all off.
Poking holes in the warm cake and pouring slowly lets each addition of syrup soak down before the next, so the crumb saturates evenly.

Kitchen flow

Parallel prep: Start the rum syrup in the last ten minutes of baking so it is hot when the warm cake comes out.
Make-ahead: This cake improves overnight; soak it, cover, and let it rest a day so the rum mellows through the crumb.
Leftover move: Brush slices with a little extra rum syrup to revive a cake that has dried at the edges.
Cleanup rhythm: Soak the sticky Bundt pan in hot water right after inverting so the caramelized syrup releases.

Ingredient brief

Role, handling, and swap guidance for each key ingredient.

dark rum

Signature flavor

Purpose: It is split between batter and syrup so the rum reads both baked-in and freshly poured, defining the cake.

Handling: Stir the syrup portion in off the heat to keep its aroma; the batter portion bakes in for a mellower note.

Adaptation: Spiced rum adds clove and cinnamon depth; for alcohol-free, use rum extract plus apple juice in the syrup.

eggs

Structure and richness

Purpose: Beaten in one at a time, they build the emulsion that gives the cake its tender, even crumb.

Handling: Add them one at a time to the creamed butter so each fully incorporates before the next.

Adaptation: No clean swap holds this rich a crumb; for egg-free, expect a denser, more fragile cake.

butter

Fat and flavor

Purpose: Creamed in the batter and melted into the syrup, it carries flavor and keeps the soaked crumb moist.

Handling: Cream it with the sugar and oil until light and fluffy to whip in air for lift.

Adaptation: Margarine works but gives a slightly less rich flavor and a softer crumb.

sugar

Sweetness and syrup base

Purpose: It sweetens the cake and dissolves into the boiling butter-water to form the soaking syrup.

Handling: Boil it a full five minutes with the butter and water so the syrup thickens enough to cling.

Adaptation: Brown sugar in the syrup deepens it toward a butterscotch-rum note.

Technique notes

Grease the Bundt pan heavily into every crevice; a soaked cake is fragile and tears if it sticks on the invert.
Pour the hot syrup over the warm cake in stages, waiting for each pour to soak in before adding more.
Rest the soaked cake at least two hours before inverting so the crumb firms up and holds together.

Ingredient swaps

Alcohol-free direction: Replace the rum with 1 teaspoon rum extract plus apple juice in both batter and syrup; lighter, but still rum-scented.
Dairy-free direction: Use vegan block butter and a plant milk; the crumb is slightly softer and the syrup a touch less rich.
Egg allergy direction: No swap fully matches this crumb; a commercial egg replacer yields a denser, more delicate cake.

Serve alongside

Lightly sweetened whipped cream
Vanilla bean ice cream
Fresh tropical fruit salad
Toasted coconut flakes
Black coffee
Aged sipping rum
Spiced chai

Serving suggestions only — check pairings for your household's allergens.

Storage & reheating

Store covered at room temperature for up to 5 days; the rum acts as a preservative.
No reheating needed; serve at room temperature, or warm a slice briefly for a soft, fragrant crumb.
Freeze well-wrapped for up to 3 months; thaw at room temperature still wrapped.

Equipment

Bundt pan
Stand or hand mixer
Heavy saucepan for the syrup
Skewer for poking holes

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