Aurora has taken a basic rum cake recipe (many are easily found on the internet) and given it her personal touch, “kickeing it up a notch,” as a popular saying goes. Specifically the recipe calls for Bacardi® dark rum, although she sometimes uses spiced rum instead. She prefers Duncan Hines® Cake Mixes.

• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 3 ¾-ounce package instant vanilla pudding
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 teaspoon rum extract
• 1/2 cup Bacardi® Dark rum

• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Wesson Oil®

• 1/4 pound butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup water

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup Bacardi® dark rum
• 1/2 teaspoon rum extract

1. Make Cake: Grease and flour a 10-inch or 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle the chopped nuts over the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
2. Mix the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, ½ cup of cold water, oil and ½ cup of dark rum; stir to make a batter. Pour the batter over the nuts. Bake in a preheated 325° oven for 1 hour. Cool on rack, then invert onto serving plate.
3. Make Glaze: Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the sugar and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, while stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in rum and allow to cool.
4. Glaze Cake: Prick top of cake. Drizzle glaze over the top of the cake allowing the cake to absorb the glaze. Repeat as needed until all the glaze is used.