Caribbean Pineapple Upside Down RUM Cake Attempt Number 2

I am close.... very very close to the ultimate Rum Cake.  Thanks to a recipe I adapted from Marguerite (call her Mags) at Cajun Delight, I would say I am at about 98% of a signature dish.  Someday my forced exile will end.  I would like to be able to make the best rum cake in my little Dul de Sac in Kansas.


So, 7 weeks ago I tried my first rum cake...RUM CAKE - in fact, PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN RUM CAKE. 



I liked the look of the cake and the general taste.  But it was dry.  I knew I could do better...

And thanks to Mags, this is about as far from dry as you could possibly get.  It even had a surprise center... But I will get to that...

This is Mags' recipe as she posted a few days ago...

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Cajun Pineapple Rum Cake

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This heavenly cake is so simple to make and the flavor is so fabulous that you will have a hard time resisting a second piece, cher! Worth the calories, cher!! Cest bon! Bon appetit!

1/2 cup pineapple rum

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 pkg. French vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped pecans

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Spray a bundt pan with "Baker's Joy" baking spray. In large bowl, combine first six ingredients. beat at medium speed for two minutes. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool and remove to cake plate. Make glaze and drizzle over cake.

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Glaze

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Melt 1/4 cup butter, in saucepan. Add 2tbs. pineapple juice and 1/4 cup sugar. Cook and stir, until sugar is melted. Boil gently for 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and slowly add 1/4 cup pineapple rum, until blended. Prick top of cake with a fork and drizzle glaze over warm cake. Divine!

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Of course, I made a couple of changes... mainly that I dropped the bundt cake idea.  I do not have a bundt cake pan.  But I sure do like the idea of an upside down pineapple rum cake.  SO, I lined a rounded baking dish with pineapple slices.  I added some brown sugar to bring out the sweetness.


I was unable to find a simple yellow cake mix here.  So, I used a lemon mix and a lemon pudding mix.  I also did not have any pecans, so I left those out.

Other than those changes, I tried a little experiment...


I don't have a photograph, but instead of putting the dish on the oven rack, I put the dish on a larger baking dish.  the dish had a 1 inch lip, about the same size as what did not brown on the cake below... make sense, can you picture it in your mind?  Remember this is an upside down cake, so when it was baking, the top was the bottom.


Alright, now that I have you completely confused, this method had an unexpected consequence...  

The base (top while it was cooking, the part that was above the lip of the second baking dish) browned nicely.  It has a bit of a crunch and is almost all cake.


The top (bottom while it was baking, the part that was below the lip of the second baking dish) was only gently browned, and that was mostly the brown sugar and sugars in the pineapple rings caramelizing.  The "cake" part was much more pudding than cake.  If you look at the photo below, you will see the cake texture around the bottom (which, in an effort to REALLY confuse you is the top of the photo), while the top half (bottom of the photo) is more pudding texture.


I put the cake in the fridge overnight before cutting into it so it would set solid.

And the verdict... OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG


OH MY GOD!  The glaze added at the end adds a rum bite to the taste.  the pineapple rings add a texture and sweet bite.  The mostly pudding portion contrasting with the mostly cake texture is incredible.  So many tastes all in one cake.


I loved the color, taste and texture.  It is now my signature Rum Cake, and you will be seeing this around the firepit back in Kansas.  I have one small nit picky concern... I hate the idea that my signature cake is out of a box.  next time, I will use a scratch cake recipe in place of the box.  But that is just out of pride and for bragging rights.  Like the competitive church basement pot luck dinners of my youth... Wouldn't want to present a dish like this that wasn't intimidating to most people.


Mags, thanks for the recipe... I hope my final product did you proud!