Eggnog Bundt Cake with Rum Glaze

This scrumptious, easy-to-make, rum-glazed Holiday Eggnog Bundt Cake is a crowd-pleaser for any occasion!

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• Why You Will Love this Recipe
• What Goes into this Recipe
• How to Make this Recipe
• FAQs & Expert Tips
• Related Recipes
• Eggnog Bundt Cake with Rum Glaze

Why You Will Love this Recipe

There's a hole in this cake!" (I think I've watched the Bundt Cake scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" at least a dozen times and it still cracks me up.)

Let me introduce you to one of the most delicious bundts you will ever sink your teeth into - a truly scrumptious eggnog cake with rum glaze, perfect for the holidays. Made with real eggnog, this buttery, warmly spiced cake is rich and tender, with a texture much like traditional pound cake.

Like most bundt cakes, this one doesn’t need a lot of decoration to look fabulous at a party. Eggnog Bundt Cake makes a simple, elegant presentation, and is delicious served alone or with the festive beverage of your choice.

What Goes into this Recipe

For the actual cake, you will need the following:

Make sure everything is at room temperature before you begin.

For the glaze, you need sugar, butter, water, nutmeg, and either:

• ¼ cup dark rum + ¼ cup bourbon (or brandy), OR
• 1 tablespoon rum flavoring + 7 tablespoons apple juice.

We use a spiced rum (Cap'n M) for the glaze. It adds just that much more flavor to the mix.

If you are concerned about the alcohol being in your finished cake, don't be. It will all boil off immediately when you add it to the boiling hot glaze mixture. In fact, when you do this, stand back a little or the alcohol cloud from the burn-off may sting your eyes. (Voice of experience.)

How to Make this Recipe

Preheat oven to 375°F | 190°C.

Prepare the Bundt Pan

Take your time on this step. It can mean the difference between a cake that releases perfectly or a cake that comes out of the pan in pieces.

Use a basting brush to paint the bundt pan with butter or Crisco.

If you use butter, put it in the microwave at 50% power for a few seconds. You want the butter that you use to coat the pan to be the consistency of paste: not melted, but softer than room temperature.

Once the pan is thoroughly coated, dust the entire pan with flour, rotating it and tapping the flour around until the entire surface is covered.

Make the Cake

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks to the creamed mixture one at a time, making sure that each one is completely incorporated before adding the next one.

Sift together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with the egg nog.

If you typically make your cakes from a mix, be aware that this batter is thicker than a standard box cake. Before the egg whites are folding in, it should be the consistency and texture of very soft cookie dough.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into into the batter. Fold only until the egg whites are incorporated. Do not over-mix.

Spread the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Give the pan a couple of solid taps on the counter to make sure all those little ridges are filled in.

Bake 50-55 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. The cake will readily spring back, and the top of cake will likely be slightly cracked.

Remove the cake from oven and cool in the bundt pan no less than 10 minutes and no more than 15 minutes before it turning out.

To turn out the cake, place the cooling rack on the top of the bundt pan and flip it over in one fluid motion. The cake should immediately fall onto the rack.

If the cake seems to be stuck in the pan, turn it back over and wait another minute or two, then try again.

If the cake fails to release after two tries, run a butter knife or thin offset spatula gently and carefully around the edges of the cake, then give the pan a couple of knocks on the counter before trying again.

Make the Glaze

Make the glaze while the cake is cooling in the pan before you turn it out.

Combine the sugar, butter, water, and nutmeg in a small saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil over MEDIUM heat. Reduce to MEDIUM-LOW and simmer 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove the glaze from heat. Stir in rum and brandy, or rum flavoring and apple juice. (WARNING: Stand back a little when you you add the alcohol, or the alcohol cloud that is released may sting your eyes.)

The glaze will be very thin.

Glaze the Cake

Place a cooling rack over a rimmed baking sheet or sheet of aluminum foil. Invert cake onto a cooling rack. 

Prick the top and sides of the cake all over with a few toothpicks or a thin skewer. 

To glaze, start with very warm glaze and a warm cake. Use a pastry brush and take your time, or all the glaze will run off.

The glaze will be very thin when you start, but will thicken slightly as you go. If it gets too thick, just heat it up a bit before proceeding.

Glaze the cake in layers, pausing for a minute between each layer. Continue adding glaze layers until all of the glaze is on the cake.

Let the glazed cake cool at room temperature for 2-3 hours before serving. The glaze will turn from glossy to matte when it has set.

FAQs & Expert Tips

The Right Tool for the Job

To make a successful bundt cake, you need to start a good bundt pan. We make this cake in a 12-cup Nordic Ware bundt pan, but the recipe will easily fit in a 10-cup bundt pan if that's what you have.

Measure Carefully

One of the primary reasons cakes fail is because the baker didn't measure carefully or correctly. Cakes, especially cakes made from scratch, are generally not something you can pinch and throw together. You need to measure.

Related Recipes

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Originally published December 9, 2013. Previously Updated April 14, 2020.