Walnut Rum Raisin Cake

Walnut Rum Raisin Cake

(Source: Maida Heatter's Cakes (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2011 ed., pg. 42)

A Christmas present was this beautiful Nordic Ware cake pan -

I could not wait to try it and finally decided on the Walnut Rum-Raisin Cake to share with company on New Year's Eve. It was a great success and I was thrilled with the pan. I prepared it well (see my notes) and there was no sticking.

This is a delicious cake and the orange and lemon hints make it especially wonderful.

The recipe calls for dark rum and I only had golden rum on hand. I'm not sure how much difference that would make in the recipe.

1 cup light or dark raisins (or a mixture of both)
1/3 cup dark rum
2 1/4 cups (8.5 oz.) chopped walnuts (3/4 of which are finely ground)
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 oz. (2 sticks) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
Finely grated rind of 2 lemons
Finely grated rind of 2 oranges
Optional: confectioners' sugar

Soak the raisins with the rum in a covered jar, overnight, turning occasionally. (Note: I did not do this. I did soak them, but only for an hour or so.)

Preheat the oven to 350 and use the bottom third rack.

Prepare the pan. With an intricate-patterned pan such as this, I wanted to be extra careful since Bundt cakes are notorious for sticking. Maida recommends butter but after some further research, I decided to use shortening. Melt about 3 tablespoons of shortening and brush it thoroughly around the pan and the center column. Sprinkle the 3/4 cup of ground walnuts over it and also the column. I also added a few tablespoons of sugar to the walnuts for extra protection.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

Beat the butter until soft. Add the vanilla and sugar. Mix well.

Beat in the eggs.

Add the sifted flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk on low speed.

Stir in the lemon and orange zest and the raisins. 

Stir in the nuts.

Transfer to the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake stand in the pan for 10 minutes. Prepare the rum sauce.

Rum Sauce

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
1/4 cup dark rum

In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir the sugar and water until it comes to a boil.

Remove from the heat and sit for a minute or two to allow to cool slightly.

Stir in the orange and lemon juice.

Finally, stir in the rum.

Carefully invert the cake pan onto another rack to slide it out.

Brush the sauce over the cake with a brush (you can also pour it slowly over the cake).

After the cake has completely cooled, confectioners' sugar can be sprinkled over it if you desire.