Eggnog Bundt Cake

No one in our house likes Christmas cake except my lovely wife but I found this to be an excellent alternative.  The cake is quite heavy in texture like a Christmas cake and full of spicy flavour but has no dried fruit in it or any of the dampness of the traditional cake.  I will be definitely be making this again next year.  One point to note though, you really do need a proper bundt tin because the quantities will overwhelm a standard ring tin.  Remember this is an American cake and they do love their bundts, this recipe has been translated from the version posted by the Brown Eyed Baker.  If you like American cooking please check out her Facebook page, she is worth following.
The tins are easy to find but not cheap, you can even buy Christmas themed ones.  They are also heavy so if you store it somewhere high up remember that when you drag it down to use it.  I'll add pictures of mine to the end of this post.  The first photo shows the density of the crumb with the spiced ripple visible.

EGGNOG BUNDT CAKE

 

• 600g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 180ml eggnog at room temperature
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 250g butter, softened
• 500g granulated sugar
• 3 eggs + 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp. dark rum
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

For the icing

• 180g icing sugar
• 3 tbsp. dark rum

Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position and preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas4

Generously butter and flour your bundt tin, making sure you get butter into every nook and cranny

In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and bicarb and set aside.
In a small bowl whisk together the eggnog and vanilla and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy.  Add the eggs and extra yolk one at a time and beat till well combined. 
Reduce the speed of your mixer and add the flour mix in three portions alternating it with the eggnog in two portions.
Remove about 350ml ( 1 cup)of the cake batter and in a separate bowl mix it with the rum and spices.
Spread the larger part of the batter in your tin and level the top.  Spoon over the rum flavoured portion and swirl gently with a butter knife or the handle of a spoon.

Bake until your tester comes out clean with a few crumbs attached.  Mine took over an hour but you need to be certain or when you turn it out it will collapse from its own weight.
Leave to cool in the tin for half an hour then carefully turn out onto a rack to cool completely, about three hours.

To make the icing just combine the icing sugar and rum till you get a thick pouring consistency and pour it over the top to run down the sides.  As you can see I made mine too thick.  I had doubts about rum icing but it is actually delicious.  Keep it covered and this cake will last several days, we're still eating ours five days after I made it.  I also sprinkled some hazelnut cracknel over the top but it didn't add anything!