Mom’s Famous Rum Cake Recipe (2024)

This made me so nostalgic for my mom and her friends. They are all gone now. A box cake with pudding mix added was the way they made cakes. And this one, with the rum and butter is super good. I will make this cake again and again and think of those moms and dads of the fifties and sixties, who so appreciated the small pleasures of life, and loved quick and clever recipes. Thanks Julia for sharing your mom's recipe.

I add a chopped tart apple to the recipe and been serving it to coworkers as a "coffee cake" for years. It's one of my most requested recipes--it's a definite crowd pleaser!!

Made it lots of times.. always a crowd-pleaser and never any left at the end of any party!I'm lazy with the glaze... I pour most of it into the mold, then put the cake back in the way it came out. Let it sit, and it soaks up the glaze. I just hand-glaze the part that's exposed when it's in the mold.

My grandmother’s been making this recipe since the ‘50s, but she uses instant butterscotch pudding instead of vanilla pudding. Adds more depth. Deee-lish!

People love this cake and it’s something even I can make. But I find it easier to make the glaze and put it in the bundt pan and then insert the baked bake back in. Soaks it all up in a few minutes

Made some subs and turned this baby into a coconut rum cake, have gotten rave reviews both times I've made it (esp. from people who said they didn't think they would like rum cake, which is wild to me because rum and cake are both great).Subbed: coconut rum and coconut puddings for the standard/vanilla versions in the recipe, kept the yellow cake mix over coconut.Instead of nuts, I used flaked coconut, which I cooked with the glaze. Made it all stick all over the bundt perfectly.

We have made this for years, but I would love a version that didn't require a cake mix and added pudding mix. Isn't there a recipe out there that is truly from scratch? I try to avoid a prepackaged/premade ingredients... can you help?

I found this recipe in 1986 in a book about "best recipes from bottles, boxes, cans, and jars", and have been making it since. It is delicious. Try brown sugar in the glaze for an even richer variation. One caution: put a warning label on it if you are taking it to a potluck or coffee hour!

my version of this recipe (from Indiana) is to try to buy the cake mix with the stick of butter on the box the "yellow butter cake mix" and use 1/2 cup orange juice instead of water. I once was relegated to make this with some cheap brandy as I had no rum. Now, I only make this cake with cheap brandy. Everyone loves it!

When I had just moved to my own apartment in the early 80s, I started throwing dinner parties. I never made my own deserts because making the food and getting ready took so much time. My younger sister gave me this recipe from a Bacardi rum recipe. She told me to substitute lemon jello for the pudding because that’s what our Nana did whenever she made a box cake. I always take a skewer and punch holes in the cake to aid in the penetration of the glaze. A reliable and delicious crowd pleaser.

This recipe is the same one I have been making for the past 15 years from an old clipping from the Atlanta Journal Constitution providing the recipe for the rum cake Macy's (or maybe it was Rich's department store?) used to make in the cafe of their old downtown Atlanta store. It is delicious and super easy. I cut the glaze in half for those that don't want a "wet" rum cake and sometimes decorate the finished cake with strawberries and blueberries.

Checked my hand-written recipe file and this is the same recipe my Mom made in the 70s. It was a favorite gift for my HS teachers. Great memories. We just pour the glaze over the cake in the bundt pan and let it sit until absorbed in the cake.

I've been making this same recipe for years except I don't use pudding. Buy the moist or moist deluxe cake mix.

I made a gluten free version using GF yellow cake mix. Because the mix called for 1/2 cup of butter instead of oil I used that. Other than that I followed the recipe. It's been many years since I baked a regular gluten cake so I don't know if GF is different, but despite poking many, many holes in most of the glaze would not absorb. Made a huge mess. Out of frustration I decided to put the cake back into the Bundt pan and pour it all of over the bottom of the cake. That definitely helped.

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I made a gluten free version using GF yellow cake mix. Because the mix called for 1/2 cup of butter instead of oil I used that. Other than that I followed the recipe. It's been many years since I baked a regular gluten cake so I don't know if GF is different, but despite poking many, many holes in most of the glaze would not absorb. Made a huge mess. Out of frustration I decided to put the cake back into the Bundt pan and pour it all of over the bottom of the cake. That definitely helped.

Made some subs and turned this baby into a coconut rum cake, have gotten rave reviews both times I've made it (esp. from people who said they didn't think they would like rum cake, which is wild to me because rum and cake are both great).Subbed: coconut rum and coconut puddings for the standard/vanilla versions in the recipe, kept the yellow cake mix over coconut.Instead of nuts, I used flaked coconut, which I cooked with the glaze. Made it all stick all over the bundt perfectly.

When I had just moved to my own apartment in the early 80s, I started throwing dinner parties. I never made my own deserts because making the food and getting ready took so much time. My younger sister gave me this recipe from a Bacardi rum recipe. She told me to substitute lemon jello for the pudding because that’s what our Nana did whenever she made a box cake. I always take a skewer and punch holes in the cake to aid in the penetration of the glaze. A reliable and delicious crowd pleaser.

It's the most wonderful cake....elegant.....delicious....the aroma is divine....a real crowd pleaser. Plus, the next day as the glaze is absorbed it makes a delicious morning treat with coffee!

Also nostalgic for my grandmother’s rum cake, her recipe coming from a Bacardi label; not as easy as this one seems to be. Can’t wait to make this - btw: photo shows nuts in the top of the cake, but no nuts indicated in recipe. - ?

Doh! Disregard my previous note - now I see chopped nuts in the recipe. Thanks so much.

Made it lots of times.. always a crowd-pleaser and never any left at the end of any party!I'm lazy with the glaze... I pour most of it into the mold, then put the cake back in the way it came out. Let it sit, and it soaks up the glaze. I just hand-glaze the part that's exposed when it's in the mold.

I too have been making this cake for ages but from scratch and it’s always a crowd pleaser. Learned to make this from my grandmother who learned from her mother who used corn liquor instead of rum. My grandmother used bourbon but as history evolved I used good old RUM... LAUGHING AT ALL THE CHANGES this Lovely cake has made!!!

My grandmother’s been making this recipe since the ‘50s, but she uses instant butterscotch pudding instead of vanilla pudding. Adds more depth. Deee-lish!

We have made this for years, but I would love a version that didn't require a cake mix and added pudding mix. Isn't there a recipe out there that is truly from scratch? I try to avoid a prepackaged/premade ingredients... can you help?

People love this cake and it’s something even I can make. But I find it easier to make the glaze and put it in the bundt pan and then insert the baked bake back in. Soaks it all up in a few minutes

Checked my hand-written recipe file and this is the same recipe my Mom made in the 70s. It was a favorite gift for my HS teachers. Great memories. We just pour the glaze over the cake in the bundt pan and let it sit until absorbed in the cake.

my version of this recipe (from Indiana) is to try to buy the cake mix with the stick of butter on the box the "yellow butter cake mix" and use 1/2 cup orange juice instead of water. I once was relegated to make this with some cheap brandy as I had no rum. Now, I only make this cake with cheap brandy. Everyone loves it!

I've been making this same recipe for years except I don't use pudding. Buy the moist or moist deluxe cake mix.

This made me so nostalgic for my mom and her friends. They are all gone now. A box cake with pudding mix added was the way they made cakes. And this one, with the rum and butter is super good. I will make this cake again and again and think of those moms and dads of the fifties and sixties, who so appreciated the small pleasures of life, and loved quick and clever recipes. Thanks Julia for sharing your mom's recipe.