Happy Thursday All!

It’s the 16th of March and if you are a history buff like me, you know that yesterday, being the 15th, was the Ides of March.  Which for me also means watching Ryan Gosling’s movie of the same title.  And if I can somehow parlay Ryan Gosling into a tradition of any kind, I will do so.   Not only does the 16th of March mean I woke up with sweet dreams of Mr. G’s devilish good looks on my mind, but it also puts us one day out from St. Patrick’s Day AND the new Beauty and The Beast movie.  I mean could this weekend get ANY better???  Unless I find a pot of gold lying around somewhere, I don’t think so.

Growing up, my Mom was big on tradition, and cooking particular foods for certain holidays.  For us, St. Patrick’s day meant fresh baked green bagels in the morning and the most amazing corn beef and cabbage dinner (left overs made for perfect sandwiches on rye bread the next day).  Both of which I can’t wait to indulge in tomorrow!  So when looking for a little something sweet to follow up such a timeless tradition always perfected by Mom, I ran into a bit of a challenge…

This year, I gave up Chocolate for lent (I have since learned that I may be an addict…don’t judge me), so I wanted to pick something that didn’t have any of my favorite sweet baked into the recipe.  Now, most St. Patrick’s Day desserts almost always have chocolate somewhere in the recipe, since it pairs so well with two very Irish flavors….Bailey’s and Guinness.  Why did I give up chocolate again???  Thankfully, I remembered a Mississippi cookbook that my Aunt Shirley gave to my Mom years back.  It had a wildly delicious Rum Cake recipe that Mom has kept marked to this day.  However, instead of the traditional version that calls for a vanilla pudding pack, Aunt Shirley made a note to substitute it for a pistachio one instead.  Doing so not only gives this cake a gorgeous mint green hue, perfect to serve on St. Patty’s Day, but it also allows for an unforeseen flavor punch that you wouldn’t expect from a typical rum cake.  Making it extra special is the fact that it is a favorite of my Zia(Aunt) Tina.  So I knew I couldn’t go wrong with this one…

The only amendments I made to this recipe was using a preservative free cake mix (Pillsbury makes a great one), and added Buttered Rum flavored icing with sprinkled chopped pistachios over the top.  Its gives this super silky cake a crunch factor that I am very fond of, and I think you will be too.  Another pleasant element of this cake, it is super easy to whip up.  So give it a try!  You won’t be disappointed.

Wishing you all a lucky and safe St. Patrick’s Day

Lauren

Pistachio Rum Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 package pistachio pudding mix
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1/2 cup rum
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup oil
• 4 whole eggs
• 3/4 cup chopped pistachios to be sprinkled later

Rum Soak

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 oz. rum

Buttered Rum Icing

• Remaining half of Rum Soak
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees and grease a bundt pan.
2. Combine pudding mix and cake mix.
3. Add rum, water, and oil.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, and mixing after each.
5. Bake for about 40 min in the over.
6. Once cake is done, remove from oven and allow to cool
7. While cake is cooling, prepare rum soak.
8. Put sugar, water and butter in a pan on the stove.  Boil for one minute.
9. Remove from stove and add rum.
10. Once mixture and cake has cooled, remove cake from the pan and poke hole over the top with a toothpick.
11. Pour half of the rum mixture over the top and let soak into the cake.
12. Mix the remaining rum soak with the powdered sugar and pour atop of cake.
13. Sprinkle chopped pistachios over the rum icing.