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Apple Rum Cake on a cake plate.
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5 from 1 vote

Apple Rum Cake

This decadent Apple Rum Cake starts with a cake mix, and has fantastic flavor from sliced apples, pecans, spices, and a decadent buttery rum glaze. This fall cake is so rich and flavorful.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 15
Author: Melissa and Bebe

Ingredients

  • 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix I used Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist 15.25 oz. I like to sift my mixes.
  • 3.4 oz Small Box Instant Vanilla Pudding (Do not prepare the pudding)
  • 1½ teaspoons Apple Pie Spice (3g)
  • 4 eggs room temperature (Place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes if in a hurry.)
  • ½ cup Milk (preferably whole or 2%) (120g)
  • ½ cup Rum (we used white/clear rum) (111g )
  • ½ cup Vegetable Oil (we use Canola oil) (108g) (We use Canola Oil)
  • 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract (8g)
  • 1 cup finely diced apples (105g) (We used Granny Smith. Golden Delicious is a good option too.)

Pecan and Apple Topping (Goes into pan first)

  • ½ cup finely chopped pecans (52g)
  • 1½ teaspoons white sugar (for coating the apple slices)
  • ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon (for coating the apple slices) (adjust amount to your liking)
  • 1-2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced to about ¼ inch thickness. (We only needed one large apple for this part. We used Granny Smith. You need enough to cover the bottom of the bundt/tube pan.)

For the Rum Glaze (prepare during last 15 min of baking)

  • ½ cup white sugar (100g)
  • ½ cup brown sugar (100g)(we used light brown sugar)
  • 1 stick unsalted butter (this is equal to ½ cup of butter)
  • ¼ cup rum (we used white rum) (61g)
  • ¼ cup water (61g)

Instructions

  • Generously grease (with vegetable shortening) and lightly flour a bundt pan. Ours is a 10 inch bundt pan but a smaller one is fine also (but as a general rule of thumb, don't fill your pan more than about ⅔ full.

For the Topping (Goes in pan first)

  • Sprinkle the half cup of finely chopped pecans into the bottom of a greased and floured bundt pan.
  • We used an apple slicer to slice the apple into sections, and then sliced each section into 3 thinner slices. (Remove the peel). Each slice was approximately ¼ inch thickness.
  • Toss the apples in a bowl with the 1 ½ teaspoons of white sugar a ⅛-1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.
  • Lay the thinly sliced apple slices on top of the chopped pecans, side by side, all the way around the bottom of the bundt or tube pan. One large apple gave us enough slices for this step, but depending on the size of your pan or apple(s), you may need a bit more.

For the Cake Batter

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
  • Sift the cake mix into your mixing bowl. Add all of the other ingredients (except for the chopped apples): instant vanilla pudding, 4 eggs, ½ cup milk, ½ cup rum, ½ cup vegetable oil, apple pie spice, and vanilla extract.
  • Mix at medium speed for one minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix one more minute.
  • Fold in one cup of finely diced apples.
  • Pour or scoop the batter into the bundt pan, covering the layer of chopped pecans and apple slices.
  • Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Baking times may vary- check your cake for doneness as it approaches the 45 minute mark.
  • During the last 15 minutes of baking, prepare the rum glaze.

Rum Glaze Instructions (prepare during the last 15 minutes of baking)

  • In a saucepan, stir the glaze ingredients (sugar, butter, water, rum) over low heat until butter has melted. Raise the heat to medium heat, stirring constantly until it begins to boil. (Be careful-It may boil over if you are not stirring.) Boil for 3 minutes and remove from heat.
  • This glaze will be poured over the cake just after the baked cake is pulled from the oven and still in the pan. Pour the warm glaze over the cake (still in pan) and let it sit for 15 minutes.
  • After 15 minutes has passed, when the glaze has been absorbed, place your cake plate/pedestal upside down against the cake pan and then flip it all as one so that the cake plate is now right side up with the inverted pan on top. Remove the cake pan to reveal the cake.

Storage

  • Serve warm or cool (although we love it warm!). If not serving right away, it is best to refrigerate in an airtight container, bakery box, or cake dome & and then remove from the refrigerator 2-3 of hours before serving.

Notes

This cake would also be great without the "upside down" element of adding the apple slices. However, we love the extra boost of apple flavor that these thicker slices add to the cake. 
*As I mentioned, this cake is based on our Apple Upside Down cake recipe, but we chose not to add the brown sugar and butter to the bottom of the pan before layering on the apple slices as we did with that recipe. This is because we are using the rum glaze which already has a cup of sugar and stick of butter.
This cake has a good amount of rum flavor but is not overpowering. If you want even more rum flavor, you could increase the amount of rum in the glaze recipe (and decrease the amount of water).