Banana Rum Cake

Bananas and rum are a great combination, evidenced by the popularity of Bananas Foster for more than a half century since its invention. There is something about banana that brings out the sweetness of rum, and something about rum that really brings out the complexity of a simple banana. You don’t need much to make the most of this pairing, so I added just a splash of rum into this bundt cake and a splash of rum into the glaze and got a delicious finished dessert.

This Banana Rum Cake is a straightforward cake that is perfect for almost any occasion. You need about three ripe bananas to make it, but as long as you have those, you probably already have everything else you need on hand. The cake is moist and sweet – thanks to all of those bananas – and has a beautiful tight, soft crumb to it. You can really taste the bananas and you definitely get a hint of the rum, but you also get a bit of buttery flavor from the butter and buttermilk in the recipe. The glaze is where most of the rum flavor comes in, as the simple frosting really allows the rum flavor to stand out.

This cake keeps very well when stored in an airtight container and will last for several days. It is a great cake to serve with after dinner coffee or drinks, but it is also excellent as a mid-afternoon snack. It goes well with rum raisin and butter pecan ice creams (as well as many other flavors, I’m sure). There isn’t enough rum in here to even give you the slightest buzz, but if you really don’t want to use rum, you could substitute in milk and make a plainer (but still tasty) variation on this recipe.

Banana Rum Cake
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 ripe, medium bananas, mashed (about 1 – 1 1/4 cups)
3 tbsp dark rum
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 10-inch bundt pan
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in the eggs one by one, waiting until each has been incorporated to add the next. Beat in vanilla extract, vegetable oil, mashed bananas and rum.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mix and stir to combine. Add in the buttermilk, followed by the remaining flour mixture.
Pour batter into prepared pan
Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.
Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Rum Drizzle
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
2 tbsp dark rum
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 – 2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Beat together butter, rum, milk, vanilla and about 1/2 cup confectioners sugar in a bowl until smooth. Gradually blend in additional confectioners sugar until you have a glaze that is smooth and thick enough to drizzle over the cake. Additional confectioners’ sugar will make a glaze suitable for a thicker drizzle (i.e. from a piping bag).