Mocha Rum Cake

Mocha Rum Cake

Cake:

    • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

    • 2 cups brown sugar

    • 2 eggs

    • 1 tablespoon vanilla

    • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

    • 1 cup unsweetened Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder or Special Dark cocoa powder

    • 1 teaspoon baking powder

    • ¼ teaspoon baking soda

    • ½ teaspoon salt

    • 1 cup sour cream

    • ¼ cup dark rum, preferably Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum (alcohol free version – substitute milk instead)

    • 1 cup boiling water

    • 2 tablespoons espresso powder

Frosting Options:

As a Glaze: (to pour over a bundt cake)

    • ¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

    • 1 cup powdered sugar

    • 1 tablespoon espresso powder

    • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup

    • 2 tablespoons dark rum

    • 2-4 tablespoons warm milk, to achieve desired consistency

As a Buttercream : (to frost 3 cake layers – more needed for swirl technique as shown in pictures)

    • 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

    • 2-3 tablespoons espresso powder

    • 6 tablespoons dark rum

    • 3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350; spray a bundt or three 8-inch cake pans thoroughly with non-stick spray. If using cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper and spray the paper, too.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar for 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, then the vanilla, scraping the bowl down and beating well to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the sour cream and rum. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk/sour cream, starting and ending with the dry, stirring just until moistened. Dissolve the espresso powder in the boiling water and gently stir into the batter.

Pour batter into the pan; bake for 50-60 minutes for a bundt pan or 25-30 minutes for cake layers, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack; cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and cool completely.

To make Glaze for a Bundt Cake:

When the cake is cool, whisk together the ingredients until smooth, adding enough warm milk or more powdered sugar to achieve the desired consistency. Set the cake on a serving plate and pour the glaze over the cake, letting it run down the sides. The glaze will set in about 15 minutes.

To make Buttercream for a Layered Cake:

Combine buttercream ingredients on low speed, then whip on medium high speed with whisk attachment until very light and fluffy. Pipe or spread onto cooled cake.

Recipe from Curly Girl Kitchen