This delicate Totally Scratch-made Rum Pound Cake with Rum Glaze is incredibly moist, fragrant, and good for any season. It transports well and is full of booze which makes it perfect for any holiday or potluck gathering.
I have many Pound Cake recipes in my repertoire. I have Whipping Cream Pound Cake Recipe, Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Sour Cream Pound Cake, Greek Yogurt Pound Cake, Chocolate Pound Cake, Blue Ribbon Pound Cake and the list goes on and on. As I’ve stated before, desserts, in particular, Pound Cake are my most favorite thing to make.
I used buttermilk (along with rum) as the liquid in this recipe. Buttermilk is amazing in cakes, muffins, rolls, and pancakes. It makes the baked good soft, springy, and tender while the texture has the perfect density and fluffiness. Buttermilk is unparalleled to any other dairy in cakes.
Buttermilk owes its success as a baking ingredient to its acidity. A slightly acidic batter helps keep baked goods moist and tender by breaking down long, tough strands of gluten. And the acid is responsible for buttermilk’s thick consistency, which adds a soft, rich, creamy quality to whatever you’re baking. Source
As far as flavor, The tartness of buttermilk adds a pleasing, subtle tang to cakes and other baked goods.
I wrote the recipe in the recipe section below as clearly and descriptively as possible. Before making this Totally Scratch-made Rum Pound Cake with Rum Glaze recipe, read it over at least twice so you know where you’re going and what’s next.
Totally Scratch-made Rum Pound Cake with Rum Glaze
- Read the recipe through completely at least twice so you know what comes next.
- A stand mixer will make your life immensely easier. I can’t imagine all this mixing by hand or even with a hand mixer!
- You can use a bundt pan. I used this tube pan. A good rule of thumb when baking pound cakes is to always leave 2 inches from the batter to the top of the pan to allow for rise. As well, always place your baking pan on a cookie sheet to catch any overflows.
- Allow your eggs, butter, and dairy to come to room temperature before mixing.
- I always use salted real butter in my pounds cakes. It’s a personal preference. You can use either salted or unsalted butter. I do recommend using real butter not margarine.
- Use real butter. No substitutions.
- I recommend calibrating your oven at least once a year. Read all about how to Calibrate your oven in this post.
- If you don’t want to use rum, omit the 1/4 rum and use 1 cup buttermilk + 1 tablespoon rum extract in the cake. In the glaze, omit the rum and add 1 tablespoon rum extract.
Totally Scratch-made Rum Pound Cake with Rum Glaze
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Save To Your Recipe BoxIngredients
Cake
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs at room temperature
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup rum
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Rum Glaze
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup rum
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a (10-inch, 12 cup) bundt or tube pan with solid vegetable shortening and sprinkle with sugar (or you can use flour). Alternately, you can use Wilton Cake Release.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar until well mixed, light, and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow disappears before adding the next egg.
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt
- To the creamed mixture, add flour alternately with buttermilk and rum, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Don't over mix at this point.
- Spoon into prepared pan
- Bake 80 minutes at 325 degrees F
- Cool in the pan 20 minutes before inverting onto a serving tray.
- While cake is warm pour rum glaze over cake and allow to soak into the cake.Rum Glaze
- *Make rum sauce
Rum Glaze
- Melt Butter
- Stir in water and sugar
- Boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly
- Remove from heat and stir in rum
Notes
Nutrition
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Rachel says
Could I do this in 2 loaf pans? Or divide the recipe in half and make 1 loaf pan?
Paula says
Yes, either way will work.
Julie says
Do I pour the rum glaze onto the cake while it’s still in the pan or just as soon as I take it out of the pan?
Paula says
While it’s in the pan and let it sit for a few minutes to soak it in.
Mearina says
Can I use regular milk or heavy cream instead of buttermilk
Paula says
Yes, in most cases you can sub whole milk, heavy cream, sour cream for buttermilk. If you use whole milk or heavy cream I’d add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice for the tang that buttermilk has.
Mary C says
I just made this beautiful cake but I didn’t have any rum so I used a little brandy and added some rum extract. Absolutely delicious omg..my family went crazy. Thanks for sharing!
Renae says
This looks so delicious, and easy to make! I can wait to try it.
Christina says
This rum cake is moist and tender! So delicious!
Scarlet says
This rum pound cake was a real treat! Surprisingly easy to make and it sure beats the price of those rum cakes in the tins!!
Diana says
I made the cake and used Barcardi Rum (Gold). The cake was very tasty. I will make the cake again.
Cindi says
I can’t wait to make this but all that sugar sounds like too much! How can I cut back on it?
Paula says
Obviously, I made it how I think it’s the best. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out.
Christina says
Love❤❤❤ your recipe. I used the new rum that is orange cream. I was wondering can I add cranberries? Thank you.
Paula says
Yum, cranberries would be delicious!
La Grice says
Me and my 21-month old daughter just made this recipe last night and it was AMAZING. It’s even better today after chilling in the fridge overnight. Also, I was too tired to make the glaze. But I will make it later today and drizzle it on each slice after dinner. Thank you for making my quarantine dreams come true with this recipe.
Andrew says
Really appreciate the time you took to post a FULLY from-scratch recipe – no box cake, no pudding! The detailed instructions were very helpful too. I made it as directed, and it was amazing. Incredible rum flavor and a wonderful dense texture with a heavy crumb. Definitely a pound cake, not a fluffy box cake! I am a huge pound cake fan.
Even with just a hand blender it was not too hard.
Next time I’d like the glaze to sink through deeper, so I might pour the glaze over the cake before taking it out of the pan, while it’s still warm from the oven. It could probably take twice the glaze, too…
Thank you!
Paula says
Thanks so much!!
Andrew says
Second time was even better and massive compliments from company visiting. I made double the sauce and kept half on the side to pour over each slice after cutting, like a “baba au rhum”. That soaked it real good 🙂
I used bacardi gold. Also have a cheaper bottle of white rum which doesn’t taste as good straight, so I think I’ll stick to the bacardi gold next time. Why mess with success…
Paula says
Glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks for the comments!
RONALD says
poke holes big enough for the glaze to sink in the hole in the bottom of the cake,then flip it over to do the same thing in the top of the cake,then pour remaining glaze all over the cake.Be sure to use either Bacardi Gold rum or Cruzan gold rum for the best flavor.You can also use Sailor Jerrys Spiced Rum for an even more flavorful cake.
Ger says
You might try poking holes in the cake before you pour the glaze.
Nina Wheeler says
Hi Paula. Love your recipes. What if I wanted to make a rum raisin pound cake? How much raisins would you suggest?
Paula says
I’d put one cup of raisins in it. But, make sure that quantity isn’t too much for your baking pan. The batter should be at least 1.5 inches from the top of the pan or it may overflow.
Tai says
Hi, I am wanting to make the rum cake & I’m a little confused. There is a Rum Glaze & a Rum Sauce? The rum glaze has a recipe but the rum sauce doesn’t that I can see. Are the measurements the same?
Paula says
There’s just one, I mistakenly labeled them differently. It’s corrected now. Thanks
Suzi says
You mentioned you prefer salted butter. If using salted butter do you omit the salt from the recipe or is this in addition to?
Paula says
I use salted butter and salt. If you’re concerned about it being too much salt, I would recommend using unsalted butter.
janice schwab says
I am making the Totally Scratch -made Rum Pound Cake with Rum Glaze. I notice that 3 cups of sugar is in the cake and another 1 cup of sugar in the glaze totaling 4 cups of sugar. Is this correct? Also can I use 1/2 cup buttermilk and 1/2 cup of dark Bacardi rum.?
Paula says
yes, the sugar amount is correct. Those ratios should work for buttermilk and rum
Paps says
Looks really yummy! Looking forward to trying this recipe. Is it possible to reduce amount of sugar? If yes, about how much can i reduce it?
Paula says
I recently made a pound cake and reduced the sugar to 2 cups. It wasn’t nearly sweet enough in my opinion but the texture, etc of the cake was not affected by the reduction. But also remember this is a large cake so 3 cups isn’t a whole lot when you break it down per slice. Enjoy!
Marie Hudgeons says
This looks delicious I can’t wait to try it…
Kathy says
Is there any way I can use rum flavoring instead of the one with alcohol? If so, what would be the measurements? Thank you so much! 🙂
Paula says
omit the 1/4 rum and use 1 cup buttermilk + 1 tablespoon rum extract in the cake. In the glaze, omit the rum and add 1 tablespoon rum extract.
Linda Segerson says
The rum cake sounds delicious but I was wondering if I can add cream cheese to it, Cream Cheese Rum Cake sounds wonderful to me!
Paula says
substitute the buttermilk with 6 ounces of cream cheese
Marvina says
Can I use shredded coconut this rum pound cake?
Liza says
How would you adjust the rum pound cake recipe for baking at altitude?
Paula says
I don’t have experience baking in high altitude but found this article that may help you. https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/how-to-overcome-the-challenges-of-high-altitude-baking/
Helen says
Yesterday I baked the marble pound cake for the first time. The taste is amazing but the cake is a little dry. Is there a trick to make the cake more moist, maybe like punching holes in it and drizzling the icing over it?? Help please!!
Paula says
You can poke holes in it. Most likely it was over-baked slightly.
Paul Gardner says
I’m going to bake this in the morning. Do you sift your flour, baking powder and salt together and then measure, or do you measure 3 cup flour, whisk in the powder and salt and let it go at that?
Paula says
Hey, I’m sorry for the late response, I’ve been out of town. Sift then measure.
Rena says
I am about to make the rum pound cake but in New Zealand we don’t measure butter by the cup but in grams, I think a cup of butter is 225g. but if that is the case 3 cups of sugar seems too much as it is not really creaming .
Susan M says
I’m unclear on the rum sauce. Do you use it to pour on the cake while serving?
Paula says
I poured it over the cake and let it soak into the cake. You can pour it over the cake when served if you prefer.
Susie Galasso says
This looks amazing! I have some rum I picked up in the Carribean that I have been saving for something special. Can your pound cake recipes be divided into smaller loaf/mini bundt sizes? I think they would make great additions to my office gifts.
Paula says
For a mini loaf, start checking at 25 minutes and check every 5 minutes with a wooden pick
Taryn says
Hi,
Which rum do you use? Which brand do you prefer?
Paula says
For cooking, I like Bacardi Oakheart
2pots2cook says
Keeper definitely ! As soon as the heat goes away, I will enjoy making this one ! Thank you !
Debi says
recipe calls for baking powder but directions say baking soda – which is the correct ingredient ?
Paula says
baking powder