Butter Rum Cake

Not technically Big Sis's recipe: I have no idea if she even makes it anymore. But this is one that has been hanging around my mostly teetotaling family for some time, so if you've got a NSFW version, this is the SFW version. And goes together pretty quickly.

Ingredients:
1 butter cake mix
1 box instant vanilla pudding
1/2 c cooking oil
4 eggs
1 c water
1 t rum flavoring

Quick notes on the above. First, that's a butter cake mix, not a yellow. The yellows seem easier to find, but I know Duncan Hines makes one because spotting a DH "golden butter" cake mix on sale is what prompted me to make this recently.  As for the vanilla pudding, this is one of the joys of the old family recipes. They aren't always as specific as need be. I suspect what is called for is the little one, but I made it with the big on this most recent outing and it turned out fine. And as for the rum flavoring: really, it makes me think of what rum tastes like if you didn't actually know what rum tasted like and just thought it was an alcoholic version of butter. If that's what you think rum tastes like, well, then this might pass for rum flavoring.

Heat oven to 350. Butter or oil a tube pan or bundt pan. Mix all of the above ingredients (dry first, then rest in) and pour into the pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until done. Let stand in pan for 30 minutes. Turn out onto plate. Pour syrup (recipe follows) over and keep spooning it over til absorbed.

First, the whole 45-50 minutes "or until done" thing. You just have to love the vagueness, don't you? In this case, the top will be browned, won't be smooth, and it should be just pulling away from the edges of the pan. And then the standing in the pan for 30 minutes. Maybe I keep my house too cold (okay, I keep my house too cold) but 30 minutes is a little long. I probably wouldn't go under 20, but you do still want the cake warm because it will absorb the syrup better. And I've never gotten the cake to totally absorb all the syrup, but maybe that's just because I wait too long and the cake has cooled off too much.

Make sure you turn the cake out onto a plate that's either much larger than the cake or has edges: because of the aforementioned soaking thing, if you're trying to do it in a tight space you're probably going to end up with the syrup all over the counter when it overflows the plate.

If you're baking it in a tube pan, it's probably easier to get it out of the pan without losing bits. I've finally found a bundt pan that seems to do well at releasing cakes--better than most I've owned in my life--so if you have a bundt pan that tends to stick, just toss it and go buy a tube pan. You can frequently find those for mega-cheap at thrift stores. Like under a dollar. Just make sure it's not dented and that the bottom doesn't show any gaps between the center and the edge of the outside piece. If you're an aesthete and prefer the bundt pan ridges on the finished cake, mine is one of the black, reasonably heavy-gauge NordicWare jobs.

And on to the syrup:
1 c butter, melted
1 c sugar
1/3 c water
1/2 t rum flavoring

Mix together, spoon over cake until absorbed. I'd also note that my family used to make this with margarine, not butter. Give in, use real butter (unsalted). I know it's a cheap, quickie cake, so it's easy to cut corners, but really. Just don't go there.

The cake is even better after it has sat for a day. It's not going to taste any more rum-like, but it gives the butter flavor a chance to enhance. Make sure you cover it well.