Grandma's rum cake (recipe).

Last weekend there was a very nice ceremony for a friend of mine who is a veteran. As soon as I heard about it, I knew I wanted to make this rum cake for his event. The ceremony was held at Mt. Soledad, which is an absolutely stunning place. You have a 360 degree view of the ocean and San Diego (I'll have to share some pictures of the view sometime).

Mt. Soledad Veterans' Memorial

I got this recipe from my Grandma, and it's so tasty and easy. Last time I made the cake, I added chocolate chips, but this time I didn't have any. It's fabulous both ways, and still very decadent and sweet without the chocolate. My grandma's recipe calls for nuts, but I haven't tried it that way yet (I'm just waiting for another excuse to make it - if I don't have somewhere to take it, we'll eat it all ourselves!). According to my grandma, the cake will keep for weeks, and it freezes well. We've always eaten it much faster than that though!

Grandma's Rum Cake

Ingredients

Cake
1 package Duncan Hines butter recipe cake mix

1 package 4 oz vanilla instant pudding mix (5 oz is okay too)

1/2 cup light rum

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup cooking oil

4 eggs

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Glaze

1 cup sugar

1 stick butter

1 cup rum

Instructions
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees f. Grease and flour a tube or bundt pan. Cover the bottom of the pan with chopped nuts (optional).

2) Mix together cake mix, pudding mix, rum, water, oil, and eggs. Pour batter into prepped pan. Bake at 325 for approximately sixty minutes.

3) To make the glaze: combine the sugar, butter, and rum in a saucepan. Heat and boil for 3 minutes. Set aside the glaze until the cake is ready.

4) When cake is finished baking, allow to cool several minutes, then remove from pan. While the cake is hot, poke holes in the top with a toothpick, then pour the glaze over the top slowly (I like to do half of the glaze, wait a minute, then add the rest). After several hours, the cake will absorb all of the glaze.

I also made cupcakes for the kiddos that were there. Simple white cake (from a box) with vanilla buttercream (from scratch). Red, blue, and silver sprinkles top them off. 

I link up to these parties.

Update: this recipe was featured by Julie at White Lights on Wednesdays! Thank you Julie!
Update #2: this recipe was also featured by Kim at Cups by Kim! Thank you!