Rum Soaked Southern Coconut Pecan Cake

4.58 from 7 votes

Rum Soaked Southern Coconut Pecan Cake

Rum Soaked Southern Coconut Pecan Cake is a buttery pecan Bundt that begins with a standard boxed cake mix enhanced with coconut rum!

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Glazing15

Total Time1 30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Caribbean

Servings: servings

Author: Jenny DeRemer

Cost: $1.56 per serving depending on the brand of rum you will use

Equipment

10-inch Bundt pan
silicon pastry brush
small fine mesh sieve
non stick saucepan
whisk
bamboo kabob or long toothpick
stand mixer with paddle attachment or...
handheld electric mixer
large mixing bowl

Ingredients

Ingredients For Rum Soaked Southern Coconut Pecan Cake

1 cup pecans chopped
1 (18 ounce) box carrot cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) box instant coconut cream pudding mix
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut divided
1 cup coconut rum divided
1 cup tap water divided
½ cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 sticks unsalted butter divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Melt 2 tablespoons of the unsalted butter in a small saucepan. Using a silicon pastry brush, 'paint' the Bundt pan with half the melted butter. Use a small fine mesh sieve to dust the flour inside the Bundt, tapping it so it is well floured. Tap out any excess. Set aside.
To the remaining half of melted butter, add the chopped pecans and cook over medium heat for 1 minute. Scrape the buttered pecans into the bottom of the Bundt pan. Wipe out saucepan and set aside for use for the glaze.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or a large mixing bowl using handheld electric mixer), combine the dry cake mix, dry coconut cream pudding mix, 1/2 cup coconut rum, 1/2 cup tap water, the vegetable oil, and the 4 eggs. Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed, then mix in 1/2 cup of the flaked coconut.
Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan and bake for 1 hour. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into center. If pick comes out clean, the cake is ready.
While the cake bakes, prepare the glaze. Melt the remaining unsalted butter in the saucepan, then add sugar and water. Bring mixture to a low boil for 5 minutes, whisking constantly. NOTE this sugar mixture will be VERY HOT and is prone to BOILING OVER QUICKLY, so do not walk away from the stove even if only for a moment. Continue with the glaze by removing from the heat and add rum, whisking in well.
Remove the cake from oven and immediately poke lots of holes all over the top of the cake plunging down about 3/4 of the depth of the cake using a bamboo kebab. Ladle half of the hot glaze onto cake over the tiny holes and around the outside edges where the cake has pulled away from the pan. Cool cake for 1 hour in the Bundt pan. NOTE I like to continue to ladle additional glaze over the tiny holes during the hour-long cool, as I much prefer to have the crumb saturated on the inside versus glazed on the outside. It's okay to use some of the remaining glaze to do this, or to simply keep the remaining half of glaze to finish the cake.
Invert cake onto cake pedestal or cake plate. GENTLY tap the pan to loosen the cake. Use a butter knife to gently loosen any pecans that remain in the Bundt and sprinkle over top the cake. Pour other half (or whatever amount remains) of glaze over cake once it has been inverted onto a cake plate, allowing it to slowly drip down the sides.
Garnish with remaining flaked coconut and serve.

Notes

NOTE this is a sweet cake due to the amount of sugar and the coconut rum which is why unsweetened flaked coconut is specified

Substitutions For the Carrot Cake Mix you may use any boxed spice cake mix or a boxed yellow cake mix in lieu of the boxed carrot cake mix

Substitutions For the Instant Coconut Cream Pudding Mix you may use instant vanilla pudding mix in lieu of the instant coconut cream pudding mix

Nutrition