Eggnog Rum Cake

This easy, decadent Eggnog Rum Cake is perfect for the holidays, and nobody would guess that it all starts with a box of cake mix!

We love rum cakes and have made a few variations over the years. Today's eggnog rum cake has wonderful flavor and richness from eggnog, spices, and delicious buttered rum glaze.

We're always looking for great new bundt cake recipes, and this one is sure to please a crowd!

Why we Love It

• This rich, ultra moist cake is so easy. We love doctored cake mix recipes!
• The decadent, buttery rum glaze takes the moistness and flavor to another level (much like our other Rum cake recipe, Baileys Toffee Pecan Cake, and more).
• The spiced eggnog flavor with a hint of rum makes this a perfect special occasion cake for the holidays and for winter gatherings.

Main Ingredients

Here is a look at the star ingredients for today's recipe. You can find the full ingredient list in our recipe card at the bottom of the post! *The glaze ingredients aren't pictured.

Eggnog- We used Vanilla Spice Eggnog, but plain Eggnog is great too. The eggnog adds a really nice richness to this cake.

Yellow Cake Mix- We used Duncan Hines Classic Yellow, 15.25 oz.

Instant Vanilla Pudding (dry)- Many of our cake mix recipes call for pudding mix. It not only enhances the flavor, but also adds a nice texture to the cake.

Rum-  We used white rum not only in the cake batter but also in the glaze that is poured over the freshly baked bundt cake. If you prefer dark rum, that will work with this recipe as well. Dark rum has a deeper flavor as it is aged longer.

Spices- we used cinnamon and nutmeg in this recipe as these spices are often associated with eggnog.

Crushed pecans are sprinkled in the prepared bundt pan before adding the cake batter. We love the flavor and bit of crunch that they add to every slice.

How to Make Eggnog Rum Cake

You can find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Then, grease and flour a 10 or 12 cup bundt pan.
• Sprinkle the bottom of the prepared pan with the chopped pecans.

• Sift the cake mix into your mixing bowl. Add all of the other ingredients (eggnog, rum, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, eggs, vanilla extract, vegetable oil, and instant vanilla pudding (dry).

• Mix at low speed for about 5-10 seconds to start blending ingredients and then increase to medium speed. Mix for two minutes. Pour batter into cake pan.

• Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.

• During the last 15 minutes of baking, make the glaze. This glaze is a combination of rum, water, butter, and sugar. (See recipe card for full instructions). Bring to a boil for a few minutes, then remove from heat.

• Pour the warm glaze over the freshly baked cake. Allow the cake to sit and absorb the glaze for 15 minutes before turning out.

Here's our cake after turning out. I love the look of the glaze and pecans. Yum!

Here is our sliced cake! You'll notice that the rum glaze is more concentrated around the edges of the cake.

Recipe FAQs

More Boozy Cakes

We've made several festive "boozy cakes" over the years! We have a banana rum cake from cake mix, Pina Colada Cake, Limoncello Cake, margarita cupcakes, and many more.

Eggnog Rum Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe

This moist, spiced Eggnog Rum Cake is so decadent and delicious! It is rich, impressive, and flavorful. Nobody would guess that it starts with a cake mix!

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 50 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 15 servings

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Ingredients

For the Cake

• ▢ 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix We used Duncan Hines Classic Yellow, Perfectly Moist (15.25 oz)
• ▢ 1 Small Package Instant Vanilla Pudding (3.4 oz/96g) (Do not prepare the pudding!)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon cinnamon (3g)
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon nutmeg (2g)
• ▢ 4 eggs
• ▢ ⅓ cup Rum We used clear/white, however dark rum is good in this cake also!
• ▢ ½ cup Vegetable Oil (we use Canola oil) (108g)
• ▢ 1 cup Eggnog (235g)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)
• ▢ ½ cup Pecans, chopped (52g)

For the Glaze

• ▢ 1 cup Sugar (200g)
• ▢ 1 stick Unsalted butter (113g)
• ▢ ¼ cup Water (61g)
• ▢ ¼ cup Rum (61g)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
• Grease and flour a 10 or 12 cup bundt pan.
• Sprinkle the bottom of the prepared pan with the chopped pecans.
• Sift the cake mix into your mixing bowl. Add all of the other ingredients (eggnog, eggs, rum, vanilla pudding mix, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and vegetable oil.)
• Mix at low speed for about 10 seconds to start blending ingredients and then increase the speed to medium speed. Mix for two minutes. Pour batter into cake pan.
• Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
• During the last 15 minutes of baking, make the glaze.

Glaze Instructions

• In a saucepan, stir the glaze ingredients (sugar, butter, water, rum) over low heat until butter has melted. Raise the heat to medium heat, stirring constantly until it begins to boil. (Be careful-It may boil over if you are not stirring.) Boil for 3 minutes and remove from heat.
• This glaze will be poured over the cake just after the baked cake is pulled from the oven and still in the pan. Pour the warm glaze over the cake (still in pan) and let it sit for 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes has passed, when the glaze has been absorbed, place your cake plate/pedestal upside down against the cake pan and then flip it all as one so that the cake plate is now right side up with the inverted pan on top. Remove the cake pan to reveal the cake.

Notes

The recommended bundt pan size is a 10 or 12 cup pan.

As a general rule, you don't want to fill your pan more than ⅔ full or you will run the risk of it overflowing as it bakes.

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