Pumpkin Rum Cake – Claire Gillian

I'm a naughty girl because sometimes I bake things I really shouldn't. Behold a pumpkin rum cake with nuts that definitely is NOT low fat, low sugar or low calorie. And there's alcohol too if you dare! Heaven and hell that speaks like a pirate.

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Recipe:

2 sticks of butter softened (1 cup)
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1 cup of sugar
15 oz. canned pumpkin
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 T pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour
3/4 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Glaze:
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
2 T water (I use 2 T of Captain Morgan's rum and 1/2 T water and skip the extract below)
1 tsp rum extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

1. Mix dry ingredients (flour, spice, soda and salt) and set aside.
2. Beat 2 sticks of softened butter with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup packed brown sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add 4 eggs and beat well.
4. Add canned pumpkin and 1 tsp vanilla.
5. Gradually combine flour and pumpkin mixtures; mix well.
6. Place 3/4 cup of chopped nuts on bottom of greased 12-cup bundt pan.
7. Pour batter over nuts.
8. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean.
9. Cool 10 minutes then make holes in cake with long pick.
10. Make glaze by melting 1/4 cup of butter in a small saucepan. Stir in 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 T of rum and 1/2 T of water. Bring to a boil then remove from heat. If using rum extract, mix in 2 T water only then add rum extract after removing from heat.
11. Pour 1/2 of glaze over cake while still in pan. Let stand 5 minutes.
12. Invert cake onto plate and repeat with remaining glaze. Allow to cool (but no one in my family can ever wait that long.)

Oo-la-la.

No one ever said Gayle Lindley’s first job would be a killer.

Fresh out of college, Gayle’s career path should follow the yellow brick road straight to the top. Thanks to a menial errand gone wrong, a wayward tongue, and a randy supervisor who won’t take ‘no’ for an answer, Gayle’s stuck in corporate hell.

Discovering a company secret only turns up the heat.

The one part of her life not going down in flames is her friendship with the gorgeous but intensely private, Jon Cripps. Jon would make the perfect consolation prize for Gayle’s pity party if dating a co-worker wasn’t career suicide. Then again, with all Gayle has been through, maybe falling in love is the lucky break she needs.

Hitting the cool sheets with Jon soothes her mind and body, but it also enrages whoever’s behind the smokescreen she’s uncovered at work. Someone is willing to kill to protect their secrets, and Gayle and Jon are the targets.

With both her heart and livelihood at stake, Gayle’s early career-limiting moves could turn into life-terminating ones.

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http://clairegillian.com