Hello everybody!

I know it’s really hot in Toronto lately but who can resist to cake? Definitely not me! So I decided to use my oven no matter what and made you a delicious cake from Nantes in North-Western France. This cake is originally called “Gâteau Nantais” and is a specialty from the city.

This is a very simple cake to make as it is mainly composed of sugar, almonds and rum. Even though it’s not a complicated cake, the flavor and texture are amazing! The cake is very moist, buttery and the rum flavor is what makes this cake so delicious.

This cake has a long history as it was invented in 1820 by a roleau, master baker in Nantes. The cake is actually a “quatre quart” or pound cake in English, to which was added rum. So why rum? Simply because at the time, Nantes was an important harbour for all the delicacies coming from the Caribbean such as cane sugar, vanilla and of course rum.

This cake was very popular at the time and served by all the most influent families, before being forgotten and then reinstated as a local specialty in the 20th century. The cake itself doesn’t have a strong rum flavor but the icing does! I think this is the perfect cake to make for dessert or tea time because it’s very easy to make and so delicious!

Let’s start baking!

Ingredients:

• 150 g cane sugar
• 3 eggs
• 115 g soft salted butter
• 100 g ground almonds
• 40 g flour
• 40 ml dark rum
• 100 g icing sugar

Preparation:

1- Preheat the oven at 180 C/ 355 F. Add the soft butter and the sugar in a mixing bowl and whip well until you get a smooth and homogeneous mixture.

2- Add in the eggs one by one. Incorporate the ground almonds and flour and mix well.

3- Add 20 ml of dark rum to the preparation and mix well. You should get a smooth texture. Grease and flour a cake pan and add the mixture in it. Bake for 40 min, take it out of the oven and let it cool down.

4- For the icing, mix the icing sugar with the remaining rum (so 20 ml) and mix well until the icing is completely smooth. It should be a bit thick but not too much. Flip the cake on a plate, spread the icing on top and let it rest until the icing is dry. And enjoy!

This rum cake is a pure delight as it is perfectly moist, sweet and has this great rum flavor. I really advise you to make the cake the day before you’re going to serve it, because as surprising as it sounds, the cake actually taste better the next day! Probably because the rum has time to infuse in the whole cake.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe! Let me know in the comment section what you think about this recipe and if you liked it.

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