Rum Glazed Eggnog Pound Cake with Spiced and Spiked Whipped Cream

 
    Welcome back!  I am actually welcoming MYSELF back since I have taken such a long break from my blog.  The past six months have been extremely busy for me for various reasons and I just haven't taken the time to post any recipes.  That doesn't mean I haven't been cooking and baking, though!

   I knew that I needed a really good recipe to share if I had any hopes of asking my followers to join me again, and wow, did I find one this weekend!  I just got the recipe yesterday and have already made one of these Eggnog Pound Cakes.

  The cake part of the recipe landed in my lap at our annual United Methodist Women's Christmas program and luncheon.  All of our circles gather together in early December for a beautiful, moving worship service and then reconvene in our Parish Hall for a catered luncheon.  One of the really fun parts of the luncheon is seeing how each circle decorates their table for the holidays.  Yesterday there truly were some stunning displays on these tabletops!  My own circle is comprised of women around my age who either have multiple children and/or work outside the home and none of us could get it together this year to decorate.  We arrived in the Parish Hall to find our table bare save the salt and pepper shakers and luckily, a recipe card! None of us minded the missing decorations as we were just happy to have the time to be together for a couple of hours but we sure were grateful for the recipe card.

    As it turns out, the recipe came from a member of another circle who happens to be one of our hometown celebrities!  Heather Grubb was a much beloved contestant on the second season of TLC's Next Great Baker and has shared many recipes on our local NBC station, WBIR.  In fact, here is a clip of Heather making her Eggnog Pound Cake on WBIR!  So, needless to say, it was so nice to be handed a recipe card with a recipe we know has been tested and loved.

   The cake sounded so good that I immediately stopped at our local convenience store, Weigel's, for a quart of their eggnog.  I usually don't just drink eggnog straight up, but my husband assures me that Weigel's is the some of the best he has ever had.  I am not surprised to hear this since we buy all of our milk from Weigel's because they have a local dairy of their own.

   Anyone who knows me and my baking habits knows that I just can't leave a recipe alone, and this one was no exception!  I knew the cake recipe itself was a keeper because it was so easy to assemble simply delicious. I added a tiny bit of salt to the recipe but other than that, I made it exactly as Heather wrote it.  The flavors of the spices and eggnog are perfect and the cake is extremely moist.  I just wanted to jack it up a bit so I added the glaze from my rum cake recipe and a dollop of spiced and spiked whipped cream.  Heather's recipe suggested covering it in whipped cream but I decided I preferred serving it on the side.  I wanted to bring out the eggnog flavor even more in the whipped cream so I added nutmeg and rum and was quite pleased with the results.

   I have already begun planning my Christmas Eve and Christmas menus and I will definitely be including this cake!  After reading the recipe, my bet is that you probably will too!

Eggnog Pound Cake (click for printable version)

1 cup softened salted butter (2 sticks)
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour (only and always White Lily for me)
1 cup eggnog (homemade or purchased)
1/4 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon (I used 1/2 t. Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus Blend and 1/2 tsp. King Arthur Vietnamese cinnamon)
1/2 t. ground cloves
1 t. vanilla

Rum Glaze

1/2 cup sugar
1/8 cup water
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup rum (I used Captain Morgan's spiced rum)

Spiked and Spiced Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
1 T. granulated sugar
1 t. rum (I used Captain Morgan's spiced rum)
1/2 t. nutmeg

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour a Bundt pan (my method is to melt 1 T. butter and then add 1 T. all-purpose flour.  Mix together and use a pastry brush to brush the entire pan).  Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and spices.  Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together, mixing until it is very light, about 3 - 5 minutes.  One at a time, add the eggs.  Beat thoroughly until the mixture is very fluff, about 3 minutes.  Turn mixer to lowest speed and alternate adding in the flour mixture and the eggnog.  Mix until just combined.  Add vanilla and mix quickly.

Pour cake into Bundt pan.  Depending on the size of your pan, you might need to pour a little of the mixture into a smaller pan as well.  Just don't overfill the Bundt pan.

Bake for 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes clean.

Remove from pan and allow to cool.

For the glaze:
Combine ingredients in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium high heat until mixture comes to a boil and sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Using a fork, poke holes in the pound cake.  Pour glaze slowly over the cake.

For the whipped cream:
Chill the mixer bowl and whisk in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.

Combine all ingredients in the mixer bowl and mix on medium speed until the mixture is frothy.  Turn mixer on high speed and whip until cream has soft peaks.  Be careful not to overmix.