a baked bundt cake on a cake stand

Box Mix Simple Rum Glazed Bundt Cake with Pecans

ByMeggen Wilson
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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.

a baked bundt cake on a cake stand
This beautiful festive cake is perfect for the holidays

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.

You can whip up this cake in under an hour. Take to a pot luck, a friend or just share it with the family all week. The only problem is 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 instant Jell-O pudding mix and not the small.

a slice of cake on a plate
Moist and so tender and packed with delicious rum flavor
a baked cake in a bundt pan

Why this recipe works:

  • Old recipe- 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.

Yes, please Santa!

A bottle of rum with other cake ingredients

This cake whips up in a mere matter of minutes because there is not much measuring to slow you down. Watch this cake closely. It if is over-baked, it will dry out and pecans could burn.

You will need a few special items for this recipe:

  • 12 cup bundt pan- buy my favorite here.
  • dark rum
  • yellow cake mix
  • vanilla cook and serve pudding boxed mix
  • bamboo/wooden cake testers
  • Baker’s Joy spray worked very well. Do NOT use 100% spray on oil like Pam. It will pool at the bottom of the pan and leave a burned taste to your batter and the nuts. Butter and flour the bundt pan well if you do not have Baker’s Joy.
a counter of cake ingredients
Simple Rum Glazed Bundt Cake with Pecans
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Simple Rum Glazed Bundt Cake with Pecans

5 from 1 vote
Recipe by Meggen Arthur Wilson Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy
Servings

12

servings
Prep time

20

minutes
Cooking time

30

minutes
Calories

370

kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 cup 1 chopped pecans

  • 15.25 oz 15.25 box yellow cake mix

  • 5.1 oz 5.1 Vanilla Cook & Serve pudding box mix

  • 2/3 cup 2/3 all purpose flour, plus more for the pan

  • 1/4 cup 1/4 granulated sugar

  • 4 large 4 eggs, beaten

  • 1/2 cup 1/2 ice cold water

  • 1/2 cup 1/2 canola oil

  • 1/2 cup 1/2 dark rum

  • For the glaze

  • 1/4 lb 1/4 unsalted butter, PLUS 2 TBSP

  • 1/4 cup 1/4 water

  • 1/2 cup 1/2 granulated sugar

  • 1/2 tsp 1/2 Kosher salt

  • 2/3 cup 2/3 dark rum

Directions

  • 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.

Equipment

Recipe Video

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 unto 3 months.
  • Make an extra batch of glaze and pour over ice cream when serving the cake for even more rum flavor.
chopped up pecans on a cutting board
a bundt pan filled with batter

Other great recipes with nuts:

a bundt cake on a stand with a slice missing
 

My love for entertaining began when I was in seventh grade and threw a surprise party for my mother (I did have to fess up about it so she could buy the wine).

I have been blissfully married to Hunky Hubbie for 34 years. We have three brilliant adult daughters (all of whom are off the company payroll) as well as two incredible son-in-laws, and one “they’ve been dating for 12 years — will they or won’t they?” honorary son-in-law.

For the last 20 years, we’ve split our time between our home in Northwest Montana and our downsized dream house in Winter Park, Florida, but in 2022 we loaded up the wagons and decided to “Go West”, making Montana our full time home.

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