a beautiful, delicious marriage…

Friends. Today, I went out on a limb. There’s a church picnic tomorrow and I’d committed to bringing a dessert. Unfortunately, no matter where I looked, on websites, in my cookbooks, in my recipe box, I couldn’t find a thing I wanted to make. Not even in my May edition of Southern Living. What a travesty!

After all that searching, I found myself in the mood to create something new. I got to thinking about the holidays and remembered two of my baked goods that were favorites this year : a chocolate pecan bourbon pie and my coconut rum cake. I decided to marry the two, and this is what came out!

a chocolate coconut rum cake.

I actually made two cakes. One to taste and be sure it was yummy. Another to take to the picnic. I couldn’t take something to the picnic not knowing if it was good, could I? And, I couldn’t take a half-eaten bundt cake!

Here’s the recipe. It is rich. decadent. delicious. The rum glaze enriches the deep chocolate with a buttery, caramel flavor. Definitely yummy! -the calories are worth every bite!

Cake:

1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1 18 ounce box devil’s food cake mix
3.4 ounces (4-serving size) chocolate pudding mix
Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips (maybe a half cup?)
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup Coconut Rum

Glaze:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Dark Rum

Instructions:

Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle coconut on bottom of pan. Combine all cake ingredients (except chocolate chips). Beat for 2 minutes on high with electric mixer. Mix in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Make glaze while the cake begins cooling. Prick bottom of cake (still in pan) with wooden skewer. Drizzle 1/2 of glaze over holes in bottom of cake. Let sit for 40 minutes. Invert cake onto cake plate and poke holes in the top with wooden skewer. Poor or brush remaining glaze over top. I made extra glaze (with a little less water) to drizzle on the cake just before serving. Next time I would omit it. The cake has more than enough flavour without it. *** dark rum can taste a little spicy and strong, depending on what brand you use. You could use coconut rum in its place.***

Glaze: Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum. Note: The rum will cause steam. Be careful not to burn yourself.

suggestion: The longer you let the cake marinate in that rum sauce, the more those rum and chocolate flavors combine and the better it tastes. If you can wait, let it sit for 24 hours before serving.