Chocolate Tortuga Rum Cake

I know, I know, I know, it’s been a while since my last post- my apologies. I went on an amazing Caribbean vacation and it’s been so hard to get back into the groove of things since I’ve returned. I think I’m coming around finally, got some meal prepping done, a clean house, and tons of inspiration in my head.

First things first: my vacation. My boyfriend and I went to the island of Grand Cayman (and luckily, completely missed Hurricane Irma all together). We stayed in a nice condo unit, 30 seconds from the beach. It was so humid that most of our time was spend either at the beach or pool, and the water was amazing. I’ve never experienced the warmer water (being from California) and I loved it. I could spend the entire day in the water.

During my stay, I got certified as a scuba diving, and that was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. The vibrant colors of the underwater world is something I’ll never forget. In fact, I’m participating in a pastry competition next week and I’m drawing inspiration from my underwater adventure to produce a colorful coral chocolate showpiece! Halfway through the week, we realized walking everywhere was not the way to go, so we rented a tiny little Kia Picante (never even knew these cars existed), and explored the island way more. If you’re ever in Grand Cayman, go visit the Crystal Caves. It’s a guided tour in the jungle/forest part of the island, and not too touristy.

The food: well, we ate A LOT. And it was all delicious. They’ve got every type of cuisine on that island and they’re all doing extremely well. The desserts out there were scarce though. Only a few restaurants with something more interesting than a “brownie sundae”. But there was a baking company producing every flavor imaginable of rum cakes. And it is one of the things this island is known for, so of course, we had to try! We tried the regular rum cake, chocolate, and cinnamon. My boyfriend INHALED the chocolate one in a matter of seconds. It was delicious, perfectly moist cake, but not too soggy at all, this is the cake I challenged myself to recreate. If you want a little taste of the Caribbean, make this.

For this recipe, I’ve used a spiced rum- but feel free to use whichever type you prefer. I thought the spice would pair nicely with chocolate and lime.

Chocolate Tortuga Rum Cake

Chocolate Sponge Cake

Oil 8 oz.

Sugar 16 oz.

Eggs 4

Vanilla 1 tsp

Flour 2 ¼ cups

Cocoa powder ¼ cup

Baking powder 1 tsp

Salt ½ tsp

Water 8oz.

Rum Syrup

Butter 4 oz.

Salt pinch

Rum 10 oz.

Lime glaze

Powdered Sugar 1 cup

Corn syrup 1 T

Milk 1 T

Rum 1 T

Lime zest 1 T

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift the baking powder, salt, flour, and cocoa together. Set aside.

Set up a mixer with a paddle attachment. On low to medium speed, add oil, then sugar then eggs and vanilla. When eggs are fully incorporated, alternately add flour mixture and water. Batter should be smooth, and on the thin side.

Spray bundt pan thoroughly. Add batter to pan and bake for 1 hour.

While baking, melt together all ingredients in rum glaze. Do not boil.

Once cake is baked, remove from oven and set on a baking rack, do not remove from bundt pan.

Pour/brush rum glaze over the warm cake. It is best to do this when cake is still warm so rum can absorb into the cake. Pour/brush rum glaze until completely gone, this will take a while. If you feel cake cannot take anymore glaze, walk away for 10 minutes, come back and continue to pour/brush. The cake will have had time to absorb and will be able to take on more glaze.

Completely cool the cake for 1 to 2 hours in the fridge before taking out of bundt pan. You’re trying to cool that glaze into the cake completely.

Next, make the lime glaze. This will be the frosting going ontop of the cake.

Sift powdered sugar into a bowl, add lime zest, and corn syrup. Start whisking and add milk, then add rum. Once combined, you should have a nice drippy consistency.

Once cake is completely cooled, invert onto plate or cake stand. If you have problems removing the cake from the pan, don’t panic. Invert the cake pan onto whatever you’d like, then either use a torch or a blow dryer and heat the sides of the pan until the cake releases.

Spoon or pipe glaze onto cake.

Now, DIG IN! I know I did.

Happy Baking!

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