Cranberry Orange Cake w/ Butter Rum Sauce

I made this cake for friends who came over for supper on New Year’s Day and we ate THE WHOLE THING! I admit that it was pretty darn tasty though. In fact, it was so tasty that I made another one yesterday. We ate a few pieces and then I put the rest in the freezer to see how it fares.

The cake is good but what really makes it is the warm creamy butter rum sauce! Don’t make the cake without it. It’s really an easy sauce to make and you will not be sorry!

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 can evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

grated zest of 1 small orange

Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. Add eggs,zest, vanilla and milk and mix well.

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons salt

2 Tablespoons baking powder

Add dry ingredients and mix well.

4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

Carefully fold in cranberries.

Spoon batter (it is quite thick) into a bundt pan that has been well coated with baking spray and then coated with white sugar.

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until pick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Let sit in pan on a rack for 15 minutes before removing.

Let cool on wire rack at least 15 more minutes before serving.

Just before serving, make the butter rum sauce.

1/4 cup butter (real butter only)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla (or rum extract if desired and omitting rum)

2-3 Tablespoons of spiced rum (optional, I guess… LOL)

Melt butter in small saucepan on medium heat. Add sugar and cream. Whisk until sugar melts and the sauce is hot but DO NOT LET IT BOIL. Remove from heat and whisk in extract and rum.

Serve the cake warm or at room temperature with the hot butter rum sauce on top of each slice of cake. Do not pour the sauce over the entire cake. You can save the sauce in the fridge for 1 day and warm it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to serve again. But I would not keep the sauce longer than 24 hours.