Simple Rum Cake (with Rum Syrup)

Ever wonder what the heck to do with all the leftover alcohol you have in the house after a party? Quite a few of my more recent kitchen adventures were borne of the need to eliminate the leftovers from our Halloween party this year. Having only some Bacardi, and not the dark rum usually used in cakes, I decided to play fast and loose with whatever recipe sounded good and just see how it turned out. It's one of those chuck-it-all-in-a-bowl-and-stir recipes that I'm quite fond of.

I still don't think this is perfect, and I will continue to work out the kinks, but it's a lovely, rich, heavyish cake if you just want to sit down with a large chunk of something to nibble on. It feels like a Sunday afternoon cake and tastes even better when made on a Saturday and left out overnight for the syrup to soak through ;)

The original recipe can be found here, I've edited it a little.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup dark rum (you can get away with light rum)

1/4 cup banana liqueur (I've always substituted rum here)

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup whipping cream

Rum Syrup (recipe below this one)

Powdered sugar

Method:

1. Beat butter and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla, beating until blended. Gradually add the rum and banana liqueur, beating until blended. The batter will look curdled at this point - that's normal.

2. Stir together the flour, baking powder and baking soda; add to the batter alternately with the whipping cream, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat the batter at a low speed just until blended after each addition.

3. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 10-inch Bundt cake tin. Don't panic if you don't have a Bundt tin. I compensate by filling a clean, used tin can with dried beans (or pie beads for blind baking pie crusts if you have them) and placing it in the middle of a regular cake tin. This cake is a little heavy so if you don't have a Bundt tin and don't fancy the can method, I'd recommend using a fan oven and keeping a close eye or putting the cake on the lowest shelf of the oven covered with foil for the first 30-40 mins of baking.

4. Bake at 350°F/180°C for 55 to 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

5. Cool in the tin on a wire rack for 15 minutes before turning out. Pierce the cake multiple times using a wooden skewer and pour the Rum Syrup evenly over the cake. It will look as though you have too much syrup, but allow it to soak in and then keep adding more - and ensure that you have pierced the cake multiple times to allow the syrup to run through. Dust with powdered sugar to serve.

Rum Syrup Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons rum

Method:

1. Boil sugar and water for 5 minutes.

2. Add butter, rum and vanilla - stirring continuously.

3. Continue to boil for 8-10 minutes. It won't look syrupy until after it has cooled on the cake.

Banoffee Pie

I used to work in a hospital and, contrary to popular belief, it was the best I've ever been fed at work! The highlight of my week was Banoffee Pie day - this amazing dessert was only €1 thanks to subsidised meal prices for staff and my passion for it became somewhat of a running joke.

When I left that job I spent a great deal of time testing out Banoffee Pie recipes to try and recreate it - and this was the fruit of my labours! It's a bit time intensive, but you can make the toffee beforehand and it can be stored in the tins for months! This will definitely make you some friends at the office ;)

Ingredients:
1 packet digestive biscuits/graham crackers if you're in the US
1 1/2 cups butter
3 tins condensed milk
2 bananas
whipping cream

Ingredients totally depend on the size of dish you are using. It's a very adaptable recipe. The only important figure to remember is that the base needs to be at least 1 part butter to 2 parts biscuit or it won't stick together. You can add more butter to get a very firm base.

Method:

1. Place the tins of condensed milk in a deep pan of boiling water and boil (NOT simmer) for 2 1/2 hours. Turn the tins halfway through and keep the water topped up at all times or you will be cleaning toffee from the ceiling!

2. Put the digestive biscuits in a ziplock bag (leaving one corner slightly open to prevent epic explosion) and beat the hell out of it to your heart's content until they have been reduced to crumbs. It does help to keep the edge of your hand against the opening of the bag so it doesn't get any ideas.

3. Melt the butter gently in a pan and mix in the crumbs.

4. Line the dish with the biscuit mix and use a spoon to firm down the bottom and sides.

5. Put in the fridge (extra effective if you have a freezer big enough) to set.

6. When 2 1/2 hours are up, turn the heat off and leave the tins to sit in the pan for half an hour to cool. Then tip out the water and allow to stand for another couple of minutes.

7. Run the tins under cold running water until they are cold enough to handle comfortably. Scoop the toffee into a bowl and mix thoroughly until homogeneous. You could tip the cans straight into the dish, but you will end up with three tin-shaped toffee lumps.

8. Spread over the biscuit base and leave in the fridge to set for half an hour.

9. Slice the bananas thinly on top of the toffee. Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks and add to the top of the bananas ensuring that you cover them all completely - any banana slices left exposed to the air will turn brown and put people off just a little...

10. You can put it in the fridge for a while longer or allow your eager guests/housemates/neighbours who smelled the noms and called over to fall upon it ravenously.

As the ingredients are so fresh, I would generally aim to finish it the day after making it. Keep it in the fridge to keep the cream from turning.