Every now and then, out of nowhere something from the past pops into your head.  Maybe it’s that Dead Head purple/green tie dyed tank top from back in the day.  You immediately drop whatever you are doing to rummage through your closet searching for that top.  You find it in that dusty cardboard box hidden in the back corner, throw it on and dance around the house.  It just makes you happy.

Well sometimes a long forgotten recipe pops into my head and I feel the need to pull it out and make it, like this Rum Doused Poppyseed Cake.  Back in the day mom would add a box of instant pudding to a boxed cake mix sprinkle it with a liqueur and voila’ an incredibly moist bundt cake that everyone raved about.  This cake reminds me of that one, BUT so much better. It doesn’t have box cake mix or instant pudding (thank goodness) but still easy to make and extremely delicious.  I’m glad it popped into my head, I think you will be glad too.

A golden oldie…to go along with this cake, Lemon Tree by Peter Paul and Mary

The cake is made with a combination of butter and cream cheese which creates a wonderful fine crumb.  The poppy seeds give it a nice crunch.  After baking, the cake is doused with rum.  I use a pastry brush to spread the rum on the cake.  It actually tastes better a day or two later as  the rum, lemon and poppy seed flavors blend together.  So dig in your closet or pantry, find your Mom’s old 10 inch tube pan and bake this cake.

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Rum Doused Lemon Poppyseed Cake

Ingredients

1 10 inch tube pan

• 1 cup butter softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese softened
• 13/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 T grated lemon rind
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 2 T poppy seeds
• 1/4 cup light rum

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Grease and flour 10 inch tube pan or bundt pan
• In a medium size bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder, set aside
• In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese until well blended
• Beat in the sugar, eggs, and lemon rind until the mixture is light and fluffy.
• Beat flour/baking powder into the butter mixture
• Stir in the poppy seeds.
• Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is a light golden brown and springs back firmly when pressed, 55-60 minutes. Watch carefully, I found it took less than the 55 minutes to bake (~45 minutes)
• Cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack to cool.
• Drizzle the rum over the cake slowly allowing rum to permeate cake
• Transfer to a cake plate or cake stand, cover, and let stand a couple of hours before serving
• Serve with vanilla ice cream or fresh berries