Rosie’s Tropical Dark Rum Loaf Cake

Rosie’s Tropical Dark Rum Loaf Cake

This recipe came about from a few glace cherries that I had. I haven’t baked a loaf cake in a while and these little red jewels gave me a good idea of what to add to them in a bake such as, desiccated coconut, bananas, dark brown sugar and dark rum. I am sure there are many more combinations here for this loaf cake recipe by adding chopped nuts, chocolate chunks and Malibu [coconut liqueur] instead of dark rum, but I’ll leave that for next time when I bake another loaf cake with glace cherries.

It takes approximately 1¼ hours to bake and the aroma when baked smells delightful. It’s an easy bake, but don’t be fooled by its plainness! Here you have all those tropical flavours mingling to make one very gorgeous loaf cake to enjoy with a lovely cup of tea or coffee for a mid morning snack or afternoon tea! I know Mr R sometimes also enjoys a slice of loaf cake just thinly buttered with his cup of tea.

Rosie’s Tropical Dark Rum Loaf Cake sliced

Rosie’s Tropical Dark Rum Loaf Cake

Ingredients
100g (4 oz) glace cherries, washed and patted dry then quartered
50g (2 oz) desiccated coconut
3 tbsp dark rum
2 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
175g (6 oz) soft dark brown sugar
100g (4 oz) softened butter
3 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g (8 oz) self-raising flour – sieved
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

You will need a 900g (2lb) loaf tin greased with a little butter and lined with greaseproof paper.

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

In a small mixing bowl add the washed and patted dry quartered glace cherries with the desiccated coconut and dark rum with a spoon mix the ingredients through. Add a tablespoon of flour from the sifted flour ingredient and mix through gently, this helps to stop the cherries from sinking when baking and leave aside. The rum will mingle into the fruit and coconut.

In a large mixing bowl add the butter and brown sugar, beat with a wooden spoon until fluffy and lighter in colour. Add a little at a time of the beaten egg beating well with each addition until fully combined. Next, add the vanilla extract and beat through. Fold through the mashed banana and then fold through the cherry mixture in the bowl that was put aside. Add the sifted flour and nutmeg and again fold through gently until fully incorporated.

Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and smooth over with a spatula. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 1¼ hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean without any mixture clinging to it. If the top is browning to quickly place a piece of brown baking paper over the top to help it from burning.

Leave to cool in the tin for at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. You can leave the cake in the tin to fully cool if you don’t fancy turning it out hot and risk it breaking. Peel away the greaseproof paper when completely cold.

Serve sliced with a lovely cup of tea or coffee.