Boxed yellow cake mix Instant pudding Eggs Oil Rum Pecans Brown sugar Butter Sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bundt pan well with non-stick cooking spray, making sure to get all the nooks and crannies.
Finely chop the pecans, place them in the bottom of the bundt pan, and then evenly sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the pecans.
Mix the yellow cake mix, instant pudding, eggs, water, rum, and oil in a large bowl. Pour the batter over the brown sugar/pecan mixture.
Bake the cake for 1 hour.
Prepare the glaze while the cake bakes: melt butter in a medium saucepan and then stir in water and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil for about 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove the glaze from the burner and pour in rum. Stir thoroughly. Return the saucepan to the burner and heat the glaze for a minute or two.
When the cake is finished baking, remove it from the oven and pour about ⅓ of the glaze on top of it while it is still warm and in the pan. Let it sit like this for a few minutes.
Turn the cake onto a serving platter. Poke the top and sides of the cake with toothpicks or a fork. Repeat this multiple times! Pour the remaining glaze evenly on the top and sides of the cake.
Let the cake return to room temperature. Cover the cake with a domed cake lid OR cover it entirely with plastic wrap (the latter method is preferred), and allow the cake to soak in the glaze for a minimum of 2-4 hours before serving. The cake is best if allowed to rest covered overnight.
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Yotam Ottolenghis fig, yogurt and almond cake with (or without) extra figs
Serve this on its own, with a cup of tea, but do also make a fully fledged dessert dish with the figgy accompaniment it doesnt take much extra effort.
Serves 8 -10 unsalted butter 200g caster sugar 200g, plus 1 tsp extra free-range eggs 3 large ground almonds 180g plain flour 100g salt tsp vanilla pod scraped seeds of star anise 1 tsp, ground Greek yogurt 100g figs 12
For the extra figs caster sugar 3 tbsp red wine 6 tbsp figs 6 ripe, quartered Greek yogurt
Heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Line the bottom and sides of a 24cm loose-based cake tin with baking parchment. Put the butter and sugar in an electric mixer bowl, and use a beater to work them well until they turn light and pale. Beat the eggs lightly, then, with the machine on medium speed, add them gradually to the bowl, just a dribble at a time, adding more only once the previous addition is fully incorporated. Once all the egg is in, mix together the almonds, flour, salt, vanilla and anise, and fold into the batter. Mix until the batter is smooth, then fold in the yogurt.
Pour the batter into the lined tin and level roughly with a palette knife or a spoon. Cut each fig vertically into four long wedges, and arrange in circles on top of the cake, just slightly immersed in the batter. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 170C/gas mark 3 and continue baking until it sets about 40-45 minutes longer. Check this by inserting a skewer in the cake: its done if it comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool down before taking it out of the tin and sprinkling with a teaspoon of caster sugar.
You can eat the cake just as it is, but the addition of warm, syrupy figs turns it into something very special. Once the cake is cool enough, divide it into portions. Put three tablespoons of caster sugar in a medium saucepan and put on a high heat until the sugar starts to caramelise. Remove from the heat, carefully add the wine it will spit a bit then return to the heat and let the caramel dissolve in the wine. Add the fig quarters and quickly toss them around just to warm them up. Spoon a generous dollop of Greek yogurt over each slice of cake, plus a few warm figs and their juice. Yotam Ottolenghi is a restaurateur and food writer