A delicious blend of spices and a rich glaze make this Brown Sugar Spice Cake with Caramel Rum Glaze worthy of a special occasion!
I can never get enough spice cake in the fall and winter. Those flavors just suit those seasons so well! This Brown Sugar Spice Cake is my latest dessert obsession, and I can’t wait to tell you about it so you can jump on this bandwagon with me!
Let’s start with the cake itself. It’s a fairly simple one with a few things that make it special. First, most of the sugar here is brown sugar. That gives the cake a caramel-like flavor and a darker color. It also helps keep it moist.
Next are the spices. I use a simple blend of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg for this cake. Feel free to adjust the spices here if you like. If you have a spice blend you like to use (like this Fall Spice Blend), then that will certainly work, too.
If you’d like a cake that’s nice for a coffee break or just a sweet snack, then you can just stop there and serve this cake without the glaze. You’ll get a simple cake with lovely flavor. It’s sure to go well with your favorite coffee or tea.
But I have to tell you that this glaze is really something. Rich caramel combines with a splash of rum for a really excellent topping for an equally excellent cake. It really dials up the flavor and makes it so, so good.
The caramel glaze is really easy to make, too, with just a few ingredients. It’s mostly made on the stovetop with occasional stirring to get it well blended. After it’s done its thing on the stovetop, get your whisking arm ready to make sure that you get it nicely smooth and thickened.
You can dial the rum to your tastes. The full amount in the recipe will give you a strong rum flavor, so adjust to the smaller amount if you like. If you want to bake without alcohol, you can omit it in favor of 1/2 to 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
This beautiful and delicious cake is wonderfully flavorful. The spices, brown sugar, and that rich glaze come together for a pretty fantastic cake you can enjoy for a special occasion or for no occasion at all! I’ll just go ahead and scoot over to make room for you on this cake’s bandwagon.
More Spice Cake Recipes
- Spice Cake with Brown Butter Frosting
- Apple Spice Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Chai Spice Bundt Cake
Brown Sugar Spice Cake with Caramel Rum Glaze
You'll fall in love with the fantastic flavors in this Brown Sugar Spice Cake with Caramel Rum Glaze!
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 & 1/2 cups (300g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (237ml) milk
For the glaze:
- 1/4 cup (50g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup (59ml) heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon rum
- 1/2 to 1 cup (55 to 110g) confectioners’ sugar
- chopped nuts, optional
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously and thoroughly grease a 12-cup Bundt pan. (I get the best results with a cooking spray with flour, like Baker's Joy or Pam for Baking.)
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
- Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the flour in 3 portions, alternating with 2 portions of milk. Mix just until combined.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, and spread evenly.
- Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Then transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the glaze:
- Combine the brown sugar, sugar, butter, and cream in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Mix in the rum.
- Add about 1/3 cup of confectioners' sugar and whisk to combine. Continue whisking while adding more sugar, a small amount at a time, until the mixture thickens. (I usually use close to 1 full cup of sugar to get the right consistency, but your results may vary.)
- Pour the glaze over the cooled cake. Allow to cool and set. If you like, sprinkle with chopped nuts.
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9 Comments on “Brown Sugar Spice Cake with Caramel Rum Glaze”
Can I use skim milk in this recipe? Also, I usually grease my pans for baking with Crisco. Will that work?
Hi, Holly. I generally don’t recommend baking with skim milk. Full-fat or 2% milk will usually give you a much better result. If you only have skim milk on-hand, then you can likely use it, but just know that the missing fat from the recipe may result in tougher, drier cake. If you take care not to over-mix, then it may be fine. If you usually have success with greasing Bundt pans with Crisco, then that should be fine.
Have you ever made this with buttermilk?
I haven’t, but it should work if you want to use it. The baking soda in the recipe should be sufficient for that.
Had to sub part of the flour for whole wheat because I ran out of all purpose but it didn’t turn out too bad. I also added about 2-3 tablespoons of spiced rum to the cake itself too because I was planning on using a different recipe originally with sweet potato but I used this one since I was out of sweet potato and didn’t want to wait lol.
Sister-in-law made this for dad’s birthday. It is amazing. Taking this recipe with me.
That’s great to hear! 🙂
Can you make this in 8” rounds
Hi, Elizabeth! I’ve not tried that with this recipe, so I can’t say for sure how well it will work. But the volume should be about right for two 8-inch round cake pans. Just make sure yours are at least 2 inches deep. You can read more about converting to different pans here: Baking Pan Sizes and Capacities