Aunt Sarah’s Chocolate Rum Cake

Aunt Sarah, whom we all loved, died of breast cancer in 1990. She found the recipe for this cake many years ago when my sister and I were in our twenties. During the eleven years that we had our catering business, we probably made a few thousand of them. There were a few small gift shops that told us they would take as many as we wished to make for them. When my kids were children, they spent a whole week of winter vacation preparing them so that they would have extra spending money. My niece, Beth, says that her mother set her to baking large quantities also and that even all these years later, she doesn’t like them and can’t even tolerate the odor of them baking. Aunt Sarah’s daughter, my cousin, Julie, mentioned last week about how her mother would always bake one and take it along with her whenever she was invited to dinner. That reminded me that I haven’t made one for a really long time and that this recipe has not appeared on my blog yet. Being such a commercial success for us, the recipe was a family secret until now.

The cake has much to recommend it. Despite the overkill effect on our children, it is really delicious. My favorite aspect of it is that it can be whipped up in 10 minutes with really minimal mess to the kitchen. All the ingredients can be kept on the shelf indefinitely, except for the sour cream, which I usually have in the refrigerator anyway. Often, if I had a last minute phone call that someone was coming to visit, I would whip one up and put it in the oven. By the time my visitors arrived, I would have a hot, freshly-baked chocolate cake coming out of the oven. Very impressive! It freezes beautifully. Because of the rum extract, at room temperature it gets better with age for as long as a week. Like Aunt Sarah, I liked making them on short notice and taking them with me as hostess gifts. They even lend themselves to baking in two half-size bundt pans so that one is left over when only a few people are expected. Because of the chocolate chips inside, no icing is necessary. To dress it up, sprinkle it with some powdered sugar.

Chocolate Rum Cake

Spray one large, or two half-size, bundt cake pans with

• non-stick cooking spray.

Beat:

• 4 large eggs.

Add:

• 1 classic yellow cake mix
• 1 instant chocolate pudding mix (small)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. rum extract
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix with electric mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes. (This will only work with an electric mixer. Some friends tried it by hand and it was a disaster.)

Fold in:

• 6 oz. (3/4 cup) chocolate chips

Pour batter into pan and bake at 350°F. for 57 minutes, or until top is springy and a tester comes out clean.