Rum Cake + Tiramisu = RUMISU CAKE!

After getting multiple requests from friends to bake more cherpumples, I decided to create a quicker, lighter (weight-wise), and boozier alternative.  I decided to fill a delicious, boozy rum cake with a silky, boozy tiramisu dessert and voilà, the Rumisu Cake was born!  How can you go wrong with a dessert mash-up packed with enough sugar and alcohol to instantly make you the (messy) life of the party, right?!?

To gussy up the Rumisu Cake a bit, I covered it with a bittersweet chocolate ganache and sprinkled some toasted hazelnuts on top. Lemme tell you, this over-sized booze Twinkie is sinfully addictive and a single slice certainly packs a punch!  A word of caution, you might want some Binaca spray to cover up your Barney Gumble breath on your drive home.

Here are some of the ingredients used to make this guilty treat.  Most of them are things you should already have in your pantry like rum, Marsala wine, Kahlua, and instant espresso.  You might have to make a trip to the store for eggs and butter (I prefer the organic options).

I had to make a return trip to the store for these tiramisu necessities!  I put the cocoa powder in my handy-dandy shaker.

The rum cake is super easy to make and doesn’t require anything special.  To save time and energy, use a packaged yellow cake mix and add pudding mix to make it extra moist.  Mmm, moist…

Rum Cake Recipe

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark rum
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup dark rum

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 10 inch bundt pan with baking spray (I used PAM).

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix.  Mix in the eggs, 1/2 cup water, oil and 1/2 cup rum.  Blend well.  Pour batter into pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.  Let sit until cool.

For glaze:  In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and continue to boil for 5 minutes until sugar has completely dissolved, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup rum.

Remember to spray your bundt pan with some baking spray, but you can also grease and flour the pan as an alternative.

After baking, my cake looked like it had an unsightly tumor growing on top, but it didn’t matter since this side would end up being the bottom anyway.

To ensure that the glaze soaked evenly through the entire cake, I removed the cake from the bundt pan after it had cooled.  Then I poured half the glaze in to the pan.

I replaced the cake and poured the rest of the glazed on top.  After it has cooled a little, cover the cake with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out and let the glazed cake cool completely.
I found a Tiramisu recipe on Epicurious.com that I altered to use for this Rumisu cake.  I halved most of the recipe and substituted Kahlua for the coffee liqueur.  I thought Kahlua worked better for this dessert because it has coffee and rum flavors.

Tiramisu Recipe

1 cup boiling hot water
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
1/4 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon sugar, divided
2 tablespoons Kahlua
2 large egg yolks
1/6 cup dry Marsala
1/2 pound mascarpone
1/2 cup chilled heavy cream
4+ savoiardi (crisp Italian ladyfingers)
Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

Stir together water, espresso powder, 1/2 tablespoon sugar, and Kahlua in a shallow bowl until sugar has dissolved, then cool.

Beat egg yolks, Marsala, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water using a whisk or handheld electric mixer until tripled in volume, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove bowl from heat. Beat in mascarpone until just combined.

Beat cream in a large bowl until it holds stiff peaks.

Fold mascarpone mixture into whipped cream gently but thoroughly.

After the rum cake has cooled completely, remove it from the bundt pan and cut the bottom off.  I used the natural baking line where it puffed up to guide the cut.

I used a paring knife and a spoon to hollow out the inside of the bundt cake.

Sprinkle the hollowed inside with cocoa powder.

Then spoon in a layer of tiramisu filling.

Soak both sides of the ladyfingers in the espresso/Kahlua liquid.  Do this quickly because those suckers soak up the liquid really quickly (don’t pause to take a photo like I did)!

Arrange the soaked ladyfingers on top of the tiramisu filling, then spoon in additional filling to make it flush with the top of the cake.  Recover with the bottom of the cake.

IMPORTANT STEP:  Put the filled cake back into the bundt pan, cover with plastic wrap, and put in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours to set the tiramisu filling!

After the cake has set, it’s time to decorate!  I used a simple ganache recipe from “The Best of Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library: Baking”, 2005.

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

1 cup heavy cream
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used a bag of chocolate chips)

In a small saucepan over medium heat, gently warm the cream until bubbles appear at the edges.  Remove from the heat.  Stir in the chocolate until it has melted and the mixture is smooth.  Do not stir so vigorously that bubbles form.

Alternatively, place the chocolate in a food processor.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for 15 seconds.  With the lid in place to prevent splattering, process until smooth.

If there are any visible lumps, strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve.

Toasted Hazelnuts

Using a frying pan over medium heat, toast a 2.25 ounce bag of chopped hazelnuts until golden, stirring constantly. Be careful not to burn the hazelnuts, duh!

Pour the ganache evenly over the rum cake.

Top with the toasted hazelnuts.

Now cut, enjoy, and be merry!  F- yeah!