Rum cake is a thing of beauty. Rich with butter, sweet and almost cloying but not quite and of course absolutely soaked with rum. Coconut Rum Cake is just a little bit more amazing.
This cake soaks up an entire cup of rum. Half the rum goes into the cake and half gets soaked into the baked cake making the entire dessert moist and succulent. It’s easy to bake but can wow a crowd no problem. You might want to make sure it’s a 21 and over crowd though…
Full disclosure, this is a cake mix recipe. Everybody needs a few cake mix hacks in their pocket and this one is mine. If I served you a slice of this you would probably never guess I started with a mix. If you can,that is an amazing talent you should be getting paid for somewhere.
Frankly, a quality cake mix dressed up to show off is a wonderful thing. It’s cheap, it’s easy and it has the potential to go toe to toe with homemade. Just make sure you start with a quality mix.
I only buy Betty Crocker. I don’t work with the company or advertise for them in any way, I just like the cake mix. I have been using it exclusively for 13 years and I’m not going back. This recipe works well with the Golden Vanilla flavor mix.
I think you are going to love the mere 15 minutes of work it takes to get this puppy on the table. Heck, it almost takes longer than that to order a pizza!
Coconut Rum Cake is perfect at dinner parties, game nights, Christmas, New Years, and of course Easter. Where will you serve it first?
By the way, it goes great with homemade whipped cream – try my all time best recipe here.
Coconut Rum Cake
Ingredients
For The Cake
- 1 package vanilla cake mix
- 1 3.4 ounce package instant vanilla pudding
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp. imitation coconut flavor
- 1/2 cup coconut rum
For the Glaze
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut rum
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl, put cake mix and pudding mix, eggs, water, oil, coconut flavoring and 1/2 cup coconut rum. Whisk together briskly until well thoroughly mixed.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 - 50 minutes. The cake is done when a cake tester comes back clean.
- Let sit for 15 minutes in the pan. While the cake is resting, make the glaze.
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter, water, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat and continue to boil for five minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove the glaze from the stove and stir in the rum. Set aside.
- Gently slide a rubber spatula between the cake and the Bundt pan to ensure that it is loosened and will release easily.
- Carefully invert the cake onto a plate and pour 1/3 of the glaze into the Bundt pan. Slide the cake back off of the plate into the Bunt pan making sure to line up the pattern of the cake and pan correctly.
- Pour the rest of the glaze over the cake and allow to sit for one hour and absorb the glaze. Gently invert the wet cake back onto a plate and allow to sit for another hour or until the next day before serving.
- Serve with homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
I bake with this Calphalon Bundt pan. I love how heavy duty it is AND that it is dishwasher safe. They make some great bake ware.
Adapted from this Rum Cake recipe.
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Sarah
Another delicious recipe I will put on my to do list. 🙂
Mirlandra
Thanks, Sarah! I hope you enjoy it!
Katie @ Recipe for Perfection
I see recipes like this and I think, “Why on earth don’t I own a Bundt pan?” Time to go shopping! And I totally understand the cake mix thing. The best pineapple upside down cake I ever had used a cake mix. Some folks get snotty about it, but I say if it tastes good, go with it! 🙂
Mirlandra
I was in the same boat and finally bought one about six months ago. I have a modest sized kitchen and I try to only own what I really need and use but this one has turned out to be a lot of fun. Cake mix cakes are super practical for some applications and not everybody has the time or inclination to bake one from scratch. Besides, you can make something super yummy with a cake mix!
Mary Brown
That’s so right, I tried the Coconut Rum Cake using the vanilla cake mix it was perfect so delicious they all love it.
Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Mirlandra
I’m so glad you all enjoyed it! I can’t resist the delicious coconut flavor – ever! Happy baking!
Lisa
Oh this sounds good! My MIL makes a rum cakes every Christmas for and it is delicious! I’m giving her this recipe to try this holiday season…since I love coconut. Thank you for sharing.
Cheers,
Lisa {https://www.dreamsandcaffeine.com}
Mirlandra
I hope you enjoy it! We are having company for the holidays and I was thinking a wedge of coconut rum cake would be in order…
Meagan
What kind of coconut rum do you use? Any particular brand? Thanks!!!
Mirlandra
I like both Whalers and Parrot Bay. This recipe is fine with a modest to mid-level costing rum. I would not go out of my way to make it with a high end variety!
Tammy
I just made the cake, had an oopsie moment getting it back in the pan. It broke in half. I still continued the glaring process and I hope I can save it when I turn it back out onto the cake saver
Mirlandra
Oh bummer! A broken cake is the worst! I hope everything turned out ok. Sometimes the glaze is enough to hold everything all together! At least it still tastes amazing 🙂 Thanks for stopping in to say hi!
Pam
Has anyone put toasted coconut on top? I am in the process of making and will try this addition to a yummy looking recipe. What’s a coconut cake w/o it?
Mirlandra
I think that would be delicious!
Pam
It was the best cake ever, I took it to a party the next day (gave it a day to sit) and everyone loved it! Thanks for the recipe, it’s a keeper.
Meagan
My first batch came out excellent! But my second all shrunk tremendously!! I’m not sure what I did different! Any ideas? I’m so bummed!
Mirlandra
That is odd. The first few things I would look for in this case are measurement or cooking time. Often when I have a problem like that I find I left and ingredient out or forgot to set a timer and overcooked the cake. The other thing you might check is if your cake mix is expired? If it is just a few months out of date it is probably fine but if it is significantly expired it is possible that it won’t work as well. The only other thing that comes to mind is timing. With cakes if you make the batter up and let it sit for several hours sometimes you have cooking problems. With baking in general once the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients are mixed together you should bake right away. Sometimes cooking just goes wrong and we never figure out why! One time I was giving a girl cooking lessons right after she got married and she actually exploded corn bread in my oven. I still have NO idea what she did! I was right there helping and it is a total mystery. We still laugh about it though!
Susan
Wow a friend brought back a bottle of coconut rum from managua didnt know what to do with it until I saw this recipe. Made it last night and it was a hit!
Mirlandra
Glad to hear it!
Mark
I had a coconut rum guava cake in Nassau, Bahamas this past weekend. It was wonderful. Assume if I were to recreate using your recipe I’d use 8 oz of guava past mixed into the batter? By the way, I am gluten intolerant so I will be making it with the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix which is 15 oz.
Mirlandra
Well, Mark, I’m not sure I will be much help here. I have not had a Coconut Rum Guava Cake and even if I had it could be totally different. I would caution you that if you add 8oz of anything to a cake mix you are at serious risk of the cake failing. With a GF cake mix that is even more likely. I think you might do better to search specifically for the type of recipe you want instead of changing this one. By all means try if if you like and let me know how it goes. I just want to warn you that it might take some tweaking to get it right 🙂 Good luck! Let me know how the experiment turns out!!!
Julie
This looks yummy. Going to make it for Father’s Day. Just a question . . . Do I put the cake in the refrigerator or store at room temperature? Thanks!
Mirlandra
You can do either for the first few days. I usually leave mine on the counter for a few days if I have leftovers and after that if you still have leftovers the fridge is a good idea. I hope your father’s day was lovely!
Marina
Sound very GOOD but can use the cake for a naked cake wedding?
Mirlandra
Hi Marina,
There is no reason you could not serve this cake at a wedding if you like. I don’t frost this – just serve it the way it is which is what I assume you mean by a naked cake. Good luck!
May
Hi! Making this for Christmas next week. Do you think i can leave it out covered tightly with seran wrap on the counter for a week?
Thanks
Mirlandra
This is not the kind of rum cake that benefits from sitting out that long. I think you might be better off to try to make it the day before if you can. You want it to sit long enough for soaking but not long enough to get stale. Sorry – I hope that does not ruin all of your Christmas baking plans!
Yvonne
Just tried your recipe and it turned out fantastic. I sprinkled some coconut flakes on top and that was fine too! Thanks for posting
Mirlandra
Wonderful! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Jennifer
Would it work just as well with regular light rum? Has that been tried? Really wish I could pin this recipe!!
Mirlandra
Hi Jennifer,
There is no reason you can’t do it with light rum but you won’t get as much coconut flavor out of it. It would still be a fun rum cake! I’m sorry we did pull our old pin it button off the site because it was tanking speed and causing other problems. We are working to install a new one but want to make sure it is a high quality button that will not slow things down. A slow web page is no fun!
Ann Beaton
Did you create/publish this recipe with the old 18 ounce cake mixes, or with the newer standard 15 oz. boxes?
Thanks,
Ann
Mirlandra
Wow, Ann! You are on point. I had no idea what you were talking about so I dug around on the internet and sure enough, it looks like sizes changed for Betty Crocker (the only mix I use) around 2012. I created this recipe in March of 2015 so I’m fairly certain that you are safe following it as written. I would LOVE to just bake the cake today and check but I’m having a baby in 17 days and the energy is kind of gone… I sit in my arm chair and look at my kitchen with longing at this point! Thanks again for the great heads up here. I’m really glad you caught that! Happy baking and for sure let me know how it all goes and if you have any problems 🙂
Ann
Congratulations on the forthcoming new arrival!
I’ll be baking today and tasting tomorrow. I’m sure it will be fine.
Ann
Mirlandra
Thank you 🙂 I’m looking forward to hearing how it goes!
Ann
Made the cake the day before, and served it last night. RAVE reviews!!!! The three of us could have eaten the entire cake !
My only change was that instead of the coconut flavoring, I substituted a half cup of coconut. The only thing I would do next time other than that, is something I do with my “plain “ rum cake, which is to put chopped pecans or walnuts in the bundt pan before pouring the batter. Last night it was served with vanilla ice cream with walnuts sprinkled on top. It was so-o-o-o good! Thank you!!!
Hope your newborn lets you get back to cooking soon !
Christine
What is instant vanilla pudding mix?? Not sure we sell it in uk,what alternative should I use??does this cake reheat well in microwave to serve warm with ice cram??
Mirlandra
Hello from across the pond! Things like this do differ a lot from country to country. In the US we have Jell-o brand instant pudding which is a dry powder you whisk with milk to make pudding. Frankly it is not wonderful pudding (I prefer to make from scratch) but it is a nice mix in for this type of cake. It just ads some richness. I checked on your options in the UK and it does not look like there is a consistent item you could sub in – or at least one I feel safe telling you to sub. That leaves two options:
1. This is a simple recipe to make your own mix: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/vanilla-instant-pudding/ It tells you how much of the mix to use as a sub. I would not add the nutmeg but that is a personal choice since I’m not sure it would really work in this cake. It is an extra step but the ingredients look easy.
2. You could try making it without the pudding mix. I don’t love this idea but I think the cake would still be good, just different.
Either way it is a bit of an experiment but I feel both options have potential. If you try one please let me know! I’m always excited to hear what options work for other people.
I think the cake would reheat very well in the microwave. I would treat it like a pastry or doughnut – heat for 11-15 seconds at a time with the slice of cake covered.
Thanks for your great questions. I hope this all helps! Best of luck with your cake 🙂
Julianna
Does this cake recipe work well if using a regular round cake pan (not a bundt pan)? I’m making a groom’s cake for a wedding and the groom requested coconut rum cake. This cake sounds perfect! The cake would be in a 10 or 12″ round cake pan.
Mirlandra
It should be fine if you use two 10″ cake pans for a layer cake situation. I have not baked it that way but I would not anticipate any issues. Best of luck and let me know how it turns out!