Grab bag Friday: Nana's Rum Cake

Well, now that we've stuffed ourselves silly with so much tasty food, I thought I'd pass on a recipe that I made yesterday: Nana's Rum Cake. Yum!

Now for years, my grandmother has made this delicious rum cake on special occasions, and my siblings and I thought it was passed down for generations, originating probably in Italy where my great-grandmother was born. It looks and tastes so elaborate and fancy that we imagined my grandmother slaving away in the kitchen for hours on end just so that we could taste a bit of family history. When we finally got around to asking Nana for the recipe, it turns out that she found it on the back of a rum bottle, and it is really incredibly easy. (My siblings and I are apparently easily duped...my other grandmother used to make the most delectable noodle dish. She called it "Grandma's Noodles." It took until college for me to find out that the rest of the world calls it something else: Ramen!)

At any rate, this is a delicious cake. And when Nana makes it, it still tastes extra special (could be the extra dash of rum she adds to each slice!)

Nana's Rum Cake

Cake:
1 c. pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 18.5 oz yellow cake mix
1 3.4 oz instant vanilla pudding mix (or use a cake mix that already has pudding added)
4 eggs
1/2 c. cold milk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. dark rum

Preheat oven to 325. Grease & flour 12-cup bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts on bottom of pan. Combine ingredients and beat 2 minutes on high with electric mixer. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool in pan. Invert on serving plate. Prick top with fork. Drizzle glaze over top of cake.

Glaze:
1 stick butter
1/4 c. water
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. dark rum

(Do this while the cake is baking) Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Stirring constantly, bring to boil and boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat & stir in rum. (The rum may cause steam...be careful!)

Enjoy!