->Rum 03 <-

3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

6 eggs

3 cups flour

1 cup sour cream

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup dark Jamaican rum

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a heavy-duty mixer, beat the

sugar and butter with the salt until light and fluffy; beat in the

eggs one by one. Add the vanilla and almond extracts, then alternate

the flour with the sour cream (into which the baking soda has been

mixed) in three separate additions, ending with the flour. Do *not*

overbeat.

Turn the batter (it will be quite heavy) into a tube pan that has

been greased and then coated with fine dry bread crumbs. Bake the

cake for approximately 1 hour, or until it tests clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and let cool for five to ten minutes.

Bring the butter, sugar, and rum to a boil in a saucepan and boil

for 3 minutes; remove from heat. Prick the cake well with a long,

thin skewer and slowly pour the hot rum syrup over it until the

whole surface is glazed and the skewer holes have absorbed as much

as they can. Let the cake sit in the pan for a couple of hours to

cool while the glaze sets up.

This cake is much better the day after it is made, and keeps very

well.