Cake In A Jar - Bacardi Rum Cake

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays & A Wonderful Year Ahead Everyone!


This is the last on jar cakes. I promise!

It came about because I also wanted a cake with easier ingredients to make in bulk and guess what turned up in the search? Bacardi Rum Cake! So that was the second cake that went into my jars. This site also has many helpful baking tips. I changed the glaze from the original recipe a little as it was too heavy for us.

Apparently this is a very popular cake and came out in an Ad for Bacardi Rum in the late 1970's. From the reviews it looks like different versions can be made by adding to the recipe or changing the type of the rum used.  But for this classic cake, use only the dark/gold rum. It looks best when made in the classic bundt shape as shown in the ref picture. I didn't add chopped pecans for the jar version. Hope to make the bundt version with the chopped nuts for one of our gatherings provided there is time. It is a good looking cake I think.

In The Mix

pint sized canning jars/lids - 6 (used wide mouthed for this cake)
shortening - 2 tbsp or melted as needed

classic yellow cake mix - 1 box (18.5 oz)
jell-o vanilla cook & serve - 1.5 oz (only used half of the 3 oz. package)
eggs - 4
water - 1/2 cup (did not use the cold milk)
vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
bacardi gold/dark rum - 1/2 cup

for the glaze 
butter - 1/4 cup (4 tbsp)
water - 1/2 cup
sugar - 2/3 cup
fresh orange juice - 1/2 cup (pulp removed)
bacardi gold/dark rum - 1/4 cup

How To Do
Follow steps as before for the jars.
Sterilize by boiling in water for about 15 minutes. Take out only the jars and let dry.
Spread melted shortening to cover all the inside areas making sure to leave the lip clean.
Keep the lids in the warm water till you are ready to put them onto the jars.

Preheat oven to 325C.

Beat together the cake mix, jell-o vanilla, eggs, water, oil and rum on high for 2 minutes. The batter is ready!
Pour batter to a little less than half of the jar. Place on a cookie sheet to balance the jars and keep in the oven. Bake for 45-48 minutes.

While the jars are baking, prepare the glaze.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add water, sugar, orange juice and stir till all the sugar is melted. Boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add the rum. The rum could cause steam to rush out so be a tad careful here. Let sit while waiting.

Insert a skewer in the center of the jar to see if done. Turn off the oven, but keep the jars inside.

As before, take out the lids and screw tops and keep on a plate. No need for this to dry out.

Take the jars out one at a time from the oven, gently insert a skewer to make deep holes and pour 2-3 tbsp or more of the glaze into each jar. Place the lid onto the jar and screw on with reasonable tightness. Set aside for the jars to self seal. The heat and moisture will help with the sealing process. When the jars are completely cooled, press the center of the lids. If they don't move up or down, they are vacuum sealed. You will most likely hear a gentle popping sound when this happens.  If they move up and down then there is no seal and use as you would a regular cake. Once completely cooled, decorate as you please. See previous post for ideas.

The original glaze when I made it was really rich and we felt the rum content was too much for us. The glaze we used was lighter and more pleasing to us. I think the gentlemen in the family will prefer this cake and the ladies will prefer the one in the previous post. I plan to make a yellow cake mix from scratch when I try to tackle this another time. The cake apparently stores well whether sealed or not. But for the jar version, it is safer to make sure that they are sealed.

When you are ready to eat, open the lids and slide out the cake and cut into circles or just spoon out of the jars or make long cuts using a knife and slide out the pieces to enjoy!

Here is the lowdown on jar cakes compiled from the many sites and from trying out:

* buy 1 pint sized jars. these can be wide mouthed or not. the wide mouthed ones are easier to slide out of but the other looks better.

* only use shortening to grease the jars prior to baking

* any quick bread type of recipe (recipes with baking powder)  can be baked in the shortest time and the baking time is similar to that of the actual recipe.

* a regular cake recipe will take longer with the jar baking time about 15 min less than the actual baking time.

*quick bread types can be filled up to half or slightly more of the jar as they will not rise out of the jar too much at that level.

* regular cake recipes should be filled less than half of the jar to avoid overflow

* even if the cake overflows, it can be pushed back into the jar while closing the lid but this is not much fun to do.

* for each recipe you try, it is good to make one jar at first to get an idea of the amount of batter needed and the baking time.

* they are all time great gifts with a home made touch for friends, family, teachers, work.. you name it.

* it may sound like a lot to do but once you make the jars in a cake  a first time, it will not feel so and there is no parallel to it for a personalized gift