A box mix turned into a festive cake: spiked with rum and filled with a layer of pecans that could not be easier to bake.

How to make this box mix simple rum glazed bundt cake:

Pre heat your oven to 325. Butter and flour your bundt pan
Sprinkle chopped nuts on the bottom of the prepared bundt pan
Mix the cake mix, Pudding mix, flour, sugar, eggs, canola oil, and rum. Pour the batter over the nuts and bake for 30 minutes.
Make the glaze while the cake is baking- bring to a boil, water, sugar, butter, salt and rum.
Once the cake is finished baking, invert onto a cake plate, poke holes all over and pour the hot rum glaze all over the cake.

a slice of yellow bundt cake on a blue plate with a sterling silver fork

Ingredients for this recipe:

Yellow cake mix
vanilla cook and serve pudding mix- not instant
eggs
unsalted butter
pecans
canola oil
water
sugar
flour
kosher salt
dark rum

a counter of cake ingredients like a pyrex measuring cup filled with ice and water, a thick glass bowl of flour and sugar , a bowl of pecan halves, a pyrex measuring cup of vegetable oil and a small bowl of eggs

Why this recipe works:

Old recipe- It was way too sweet. The glaze from the 1970’s was packed with a heaping 1 cup of sugar. Add in the rum and the glaze is much too sweet. We cut the sugar in half and added 2 more tablespoons of butter.
We added in more pecans- more nuts gave the box cake a deeper flavor.
Dark rum AND More rum- rum means smokey taste and it is much more balanced with the reduced sugar.
The manufacturer’s are making cake boxes 3-4 oz smaller than when we were kids. The classic recipe called for an 18 oz. box of yellow cake mix and my grocery store sells box mixes that are a mere 15.25 oz. I added in an extra 2/3 cup of all purpose flour and 1/4 cup extra sugar and used the large box of Cook & Serve Jell-O pudding mix and not the small.

A bottle of rum next to a small bowl of eggs and a glass bowl with flour and sugar. A box of Jell-o pudding mix is in the background with other cake ingredients

Pro-tips:

Do not use Pam Spray to coat your bundt pan: It will pool at the bottom of the pan and leave a burned taste to your batter and the nuts. I used Baker’s Joy Cooking spray. Butter and flour the bundt pan well if you do not have Baker’s Joy.
Do not over bake the cake. the pecans can dry out and burn.
When you turn out the cake, place strips of parchment paper around the edges. Once you pour the glaze and it sets, remove the parchment strips for easy clean up.
I used Duncan Hines yellow cake mix. It was very moist.
I used Jell-O brand pudding mix.

Equipment needed for this recipe:

12 cup bundt pan- buy my favorite here.
plate stand
bamboo/wooden cake testers

a baked cake in a bundt pan — invert as soon as it comes out of the oven

Other great dessert recipes with nuts:

a ladle of hot rum glaze being poured over a warm bundt cake on a glass stand

Simple Rum Glazed Bundt Cake with Pecans

A simple box mix recipe elevated with rum, pecans and a moist glaze

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: simple rum bundt cake

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 50

Servings: servings

Calories: 475kcal

Author: Meggen Wilson

Ingredients

1 cup pecans chopped
15.25 oz box yellow cake mix
5.1 oz Vanilla Cook & Serve pudding box mix I used Jell-O Brand
⅔ cup all purpose flour , plus more for the pan
¼ cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs , beaten
½ cup water ice cold
½ cup canola oil
½ cup dark rum

For the glaze

¼ lb unsalted butter , PLUS 2 TBSP
¼ cup water
½ cup granulated sugar
½ tsp Kosher salt
⅔ cup dark rum

Instructions

Pre heat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle the 1 cup chopped pecans into the bottom of the pan.
Mix all the cake ingredients (cake mix through the 1/2 cup dark rum) together, taking care not to over mix- a few lumps are fine. Pour the batter over the nuts. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean. Let the cake rest in the pan for 5 minutes. Invert the cake onto a rimmed cake plate. Poke the cake all over with the bamboo skewer/long toothpick or cake tester.
While the cake is baking, with about 10 minutes left to bake, melt butter, water, sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Let come to a boil . Whisk frequently for 5 minutes. Remove the glaze from the heat and stir in 2/3 cup dark rum.
Spoon the hot glaze all over the top and sides of the cake. Serve as is or with ice cream or freshly whipped heavy cream.

Video

https://www.pineandpalmkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG_2093.mov

Notes

If you do not want to use rum, you could substitute apple cider although the cake will have an entirely different taste profile. Boil the cider with the other glaze ingredients.
To store, keep under a glass cake plate dome for several days. To Freeze: Wrap in a double layer of plastic wrap and freeze up to 3 months.
Make an extra batch of glaze and pour over ice cream when serving the cake for even more rum flavor.

Nutrition

I know what you are thinking: really a box mix cake recipe?

From this food blog?

But I was waxing nostalgia remembering the 1970’s when every mom baked the “Bacardi Rum Cake” during the holidays. It was made with Jell-O instant pudding and yellow box cake mix and a ton of booze. I think I must have ingested a few shots as a child not having any ideates cake was full of liquor.

I wanted to re-create this cake and see if it was as good as I remember.

It is.

It is a fantastic cake.