Serious Rum Cake

As you probably read on my previous post I've been on a book buying frenzy for the last almost two months because most of the major bookstores here in Manila were recently having their sale consecutively. One of my most recent purchase was Shirley Corriher Bake Wise book. I've searched high and low for a rum cake recipe from scratch without those box mixes in them. I've tried one years ago and didn't turn out good so I stopped. I got so happy when I saw this book, after seeing this book in the bookstores for several weeks, I finally bit the bullet and bought it. I didn't even realise who the author is until I saw her picture on the back jacket. I knew her from obsessively watching Good Eats, another favorite show of mine.We have just recently had a long weekend, yesterday (Monday) was the end of Ramadan. Though we are not a Muslim country some parts on our country specially in the south called Mindanao, there are prevalent Muslims there, so our president declared yesterday a holiday. Having more time in my hands than usually, I've decided to give this Serious Rum Cakea try. It felt like I was back in high school chem lab doing some experiments. Hahaha...There are so many steps and instructions to read that I've read them more than 5x so that I would get it precisely. Hey, ingredients are expensive so flops are a big no no. Another reason that I'm recently obsessing about rum cake is that Christmas is fast approaching and these are very popular here in Manila, I thought of making my own to give to friends and family. I started slow because I have to make sure that the while creaming the butter, shortening and sugar that the bowl stays cold to the touch. Which I honestly found asking myself why. It has 4 eggs and 2 yolks that I find odd too, most cakes I make only has 4 eggs, I guess the added yolks will make the output softer. The other succeeding instructions are quite ordinary now like adding the dry ingredients and alternating with the buttermilk. Then I stumbled upon whipping the cream until it exceeds soft peaks and gently fold into the batter. I was like huh??? what the heck is that?But being the good little soldier that I am, I did what I read. and quickly transferred them into a loaf pan and baked them. The rum syrup that goes with the recipe is a bit odd too with only 1 tablespoon of rum in it. What's up with that right? I thought this is a serious rum cake? That part looks really doubtful that I got old recipes from other Filipino book and got the rum soaking syrup there. It smelled so good!

They turn out a bit flat, maybe I needed to bake them much longer or something but they are soft, light and soft, something that I'm really amazed about. Not very boozy but just right. They taste special too with the ground almonds in them. I will definitely try these recipe again and try to be more patient with the baking time.

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