This Pineapple Rum Cake Recipe starts with a homemade buttery sour cream pound cake with a lovely texture and pineapple flavor like my Pineapple Sheet Cake or Pineapple Coconut Cake which gets enhanced with sweet tropical pineapple flavor and an irresistible Jamaican rum syrup! The gorgeous topping, like my pineapple upside down cake , makes it a showstopper!
Disclosure: I partnered with the Land O’Lakes for this recipe post, but all opinions expressed here are only my own. I am grateful for authentic partnerships like this.
Here come the rum cakes. Decadent pound cakes drenched in buttery rum syrup and decked out with glazes galore. Making your way through the holiday season, you’ll find rum cakes of all shapes and sizes or flavors and textures because each one is truly like a snowflake: one-of-a-kind. Recipes are passed down and new ones are created but each represents a vital part of a holiday meal.
WHAT IS RUM CAKE?
Traditionally, rum cake is enjoyed in the Caribbean as a holiday season dessert, descended from holiday puddings such as “figgy pudding”. There are many variations of the cake across the Caribbean but they all share the same base of flavor and texture. A light sponge cake soaked with dark, delicious rum. In making my own version of the rum cake, I wanted to tie together Caribbean flavor and a Southern American classic. From there, the Pineapple Rum Cake with a fun Upside Down Cake twist was born. The pineapple flavor in this cake is delicate and perfectly complemented by a generous hint of rum and butter.
HOW TO MAKE RUM CAKE RECIPE
Butter is a substantial ingredient in this recipe. It creates a smooth and rich texture. It’s super important to choose a high-quality butter you can trust to produce the ideal outcome. Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter has no added salt, giving you the pure, sweet cream taste you love and the flavor control you need when baking.
As for the rest of the cake, each ingredient has its own purpose. The sour cream adds subtle tartness while also allowing for a moister cake. Brown sugar and butter come together to add a caramelized sweetness to balance out the brightness of the pineapple.
HOW DO YOU MAKE A GLAZE FOR RUM CAKE?
Rum, which is made from sugar, will add natural sweetness but also warmth that highlights the caramel undertones in the cake. In this cake, I marry the rum with butter to create the perfect glaze for soaking into the cake. Along with a kick of sweetness from the sugar, it becomes thickened and the perfect consistency to really settle into every single bite.
Each flavor marries together to create a well-balanced, perfectly moist but never soggy cake. I loved every single bite of this Pineapple Rum Cake, and I know you will too!
If you want a full Caribbean inspired meal, make sure you serve this dessert with this Brown Stew Chicken and Rice and Peas!
Pineapple Rum Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cake Batter
- 1 1/2 cups Land O Lakes unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups sifted cake flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup crushed pineapple
- tbsp pure vanilla extract
For the Top of Cake Assembly
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar packed
- 6 whole pineapple rings
- 6 maraschino cherries
For the Rum Syrup
- 1/2 cup rum
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp salted butter melted
- 2 tbsp pineapple juice
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the cake
- Start by preheating oven to 350 degrees and spraying a 12 cup bundt pan with nonstick spray or grease pan (make sure you really prepare your pan well to insure no sticking for this cake).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 2 minutes on high speed.
- Slowly add the granulated sugar. Mix together for an additional 5 minutes, until very pale yellow and fluffy.
- Add the eggs 1 at a time, combining well after each addition and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Turn your mixer down to its lowest speed and slowly add the flour in 2 batches. Add the salt. Be careful not to overbeat. Add the sour cream, crushed pineapple and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix the batter until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
To assemble with top of cake
- To assemble cake, pour melted butter in the bottom of the sprayed pan then sprinkle the butter with brown sugar.
- Line the bottom of the pan with the pineapple rings and add 1 cherry to the center of each pineapple ring.
- Evenly pour cake batter over pineapples and bake for 70-80 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out mostly clean but still moist.
- Allow cake to rest for 10 minutes then quickly invert cake onto serving plate.
For the Rum Syrup
- In a small pot set over medium heat, combine all the ingredients and cook over medium-high heat.
- Reduce mixture by about a third and thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
- Finally poke sides and top of cake and pour syrup over cake and allow to seep in then cool.
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For the batter, Is it 1.5 cups of butter? In the video it appears to be 3 half sticks (3/4 cups)
Nope its 1 1/2 cups of butter.
I made this cake over the summer and absolutely loved it. The cake flour was a bit thick for me. What would you recommend as a substitute for a less dense cake?
That is strange since cake flour makes a cake less dense and heavy because it creates less gluten in your cake versus an all purpose flour that would have given you that heavier cake. Are you sure you used cake flour? Maybe it was the brand?
Yes, I used Swan’s cake flour and I sifted through it too.
Possibly a dumb question, but did you measure three cups then sift, or did you sift then measure out three cups? I misread a recipe once where I was supposed to measure out the flour after I sifted and I measured then sifted and it was horribly dense. This recipe calls for flour after ita been sifted, maybe that was the mistake?
Hi,
I plan on making this tomorrow – but noticed no liquid per se in the recipe. Did I miss something?
Am I to drain the crushed pineapple or include the pineapple juice?
You can leave a little pineapple juice in it. It won’t really impact the recipe that much since it will only be about a 1/2-1 tsp of additional liquid.
Loved this cake! It was all gone, there were no leftovers.
My syrup never really got thickened, so I served it on the side. The next time I plan on poking holes in the bottom of the cake before inverting it and pouring over the cake that way.
This sounds so amazing !! Must have this recipe !!
I’m going to make it for a friend it looks really good.
This looks amazing!!
I’ve made this several times and it is always a hit! Love this cake!
Did you measure the flour before or after sifting?
Hi, I tried the recipe, but the cake came out so super dense. I only substituted the cake flour for all-purpose (is that where I went wrong?). The recipe did not specify self-rise cake flour from plain and I noticed no leavening agent. What did I do? Thank you so much. I really want to get this recipe correct.
Hi Joni, that is definitely where you went wrong. They are not equal substitutions at all. The cake flour truly lightens the texture of this cake because it produces less gluten due to its protein amount. All purpose flour has a higher amount of gluten production which is why you cannot equally substitute them and have the same results I’m afraid.
Hi, I want to use this recipe to make mini pineapple upside down cakes using a cast iron mini cake pan. Would I need to do anything differently? Thank you in advance 🙂
Actually if you want to make mini pineapple upside down cakes, I would suggest this recipe since it is the classic way with a cast iron skillet: https://grandbaby-cakes.com/pineapple-upside-down-cake/