Lime Rum Cake

Tuesday was one of the best days I have had in a long time. My brother came home and we celebrated Father's Day. That morning, I made a lime rum cake. It's supposed to be a key lime rum cake, but I didn't realize we had key lime juice until after the cake was put in the oven. First, I had to put on my apron! Isn't it cute? My mom got it for me and it states, "I love Mom."

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
5 eggs
2 tablespoons rum, or amount desired
2 teaspoons Key lime juice
1 tablespoon grated Key lime zest
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk

1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons Key lime juice
3 tablespoons rum
I used Haitian rum in the recipe and while the cake was cooking, I used it to make myself a rum and coke.

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan. I used a silicone pan and I have talked about how much I like silicone cookware before... Here's a tip: Go ahead and spray the pan with Pam. The cookware's directions say that you don't need to, but if you do, then your cake will come out like a charm!
2.Stir the flour and baking powder together in a mixing bowl.
3.Cream the shortening with 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar in a large mixing bowl until light colored and fluffy. I am going to take this moment to praise my kitchenAid mixer! Not only is it a lovely, sexy, red, but it has a stationary arm, so that I can prepare the next step in the recipe while it mixes. Also, the mixer is so strong, I don't even need to soften the butter!

4.Beat in the eggs, one at a time until mixture is light colored. Stir in 2 tablespoons rum, 2 teaspoons Key lime juice, Key lime zest, and vanilla extract until thoroughly blended. Stir in the flour mixture alternating with the milk. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.Here's another tip: Always taste your batter before baking it to make sure it tastes right. In fact, you should probably taste it before putting it in the pan! I did not and so when I realized that I had forgotten to put in the sugar, I had to put the mixture back into the bowl, add the two cups of sugar, and then put it back into the pan!

5.Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 90 minutes. Actually, for me, it only took about an hour for the cake to cook, so definitely check the cake after an hour.

6.Meanwhile, make the glaze by creaming 1/4 cup sugar with 1/4 cup butter in a small saucepan until light colored and fluffy. Stir in 2 tablespoons Key lime juice until evenly blended. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in 3 tablespoons rum. Isn't that pretty? It tastes pretty too.
This is what the cake looks like after an hour. Beautiful, huh?
It came out perfect and tasted perfect too. The cake was moist and the rum was not too strong. The glaze was like a taste of heaven!

Unfortunately, I had to wait to eat my piece of cake, because we went out to eat first. Fortunately, the restaurant was great! It's called "Three Blind Mice" and is in Lilburn, GA. I wish I had brought my camera! It was very exciting to be at this restaurant, because it is probably the only upscale restaurant in all of Gwinnett county. My family has waited a long time for a restaurant like that! It's not that we eat out at expensive places a lot, but special times do call for a special restaurant and we were tired of always having to drive forty-five minutes away. This is what I had: Slow-roasted Beet Salad with Fourme d’Ambert Blue Cheese,Butternut Squash, Belgian Endive,and Toasted Walnuts with my entree being penne pasta with tomatoes and carmelized onions in a creamy tomato sauce. I loved both dishes, although I would have liked the pasta to be cooked a little more al dente.

I had a wonderful day Tuesday eating, but more importantly, spending time with my family. And then this weekend I went to Lake Alatoona with my Ridgeview family. Ridgeview is a place where I went to treatment and it is unique in that it has an aftercare program where the people have really become a second family to me-with my church being my third. I am extremely fortunate to have such a wide support network and that it is filled with genuine people. My cup overflows.