Happy Birthday!

I know six people who were born on February 17th...not the same year granted, but it is the most highly populated birthday date in my calendar. In honor of Roger Jablonski, Linda Michaels, Amanda Deppert, Adam Wolff, Marie Belzer, and Victoria Brinton, I give you Rum Cake.

But not just any Rum Cake. This is Grandma Rich's Rum Cake. I don't know who Grandma Rich is...but her granddaughter works with my husband. And she brought this cake in to the office once, and despite my best attempts to provide him with a rum cake, none could stand up to this recipe. She was kind enough to share the recipe...

Grandma Rich's Rum Cake

1 boxed yellow cake mix...with pudding in the mix

1 large box vanilla pudding

1/2 c water

1/2 c oil

1/2 c Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

4 eggs

Grease and flour a bundt pan. Mix the above ingredients, pour into the bundt pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn the oven down to 325, and bake another 25 minutes...or until it's done. Leave the cake in the pan. While it's cooling, melt...

1 stick of butter

1 c sugar

1/4 c water

Bring it to a boil and let it boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1/4 c (perhaps a splash or two more) of Captain Morgan...by now the cake should have pulled away from the sides of the pan a bit...pour the glaze over it, and shimmy the cake around a bit, so the glaze gets into all the nooks and crannies. Save a little bit of glaze to fill in any uncovered spots when you tip it out of the pan.

*****



It's great with ice cream. It's great with whipped cream. It's great plain. It's great with coffee the next morning for breakfast.

Before you wash the serving dish, makes sure you scrape up the crunchy bits and eat those. It might seem gluttonous, but you won't care, once you do it.