Butter Rum Salted Caramel Cake

To qualm my baking urges, I whipped up a glazed butter rum salted caramel cake. Yum! I love the sweet salty play of flavors, and the cake was meltingly moist with large, tender crumbs. This unassuming little cake may be the best i've ever had.

For the cake:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 stick softened unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, left out at room temperature for 30 minutes
3/4 cup lowfat milk
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp dark rum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 x 8 baking dish.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, then add vanilla and mix. On low speed, beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in milk, juice and rum. Add batter in three additions with mixer on low. Empty into the baking dish and bake for 35 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool on a baking rack for 15 minutes, then turn cake out onto baking rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile prepare the Salted Butter Rum Carmel for the top

Salted Butter Rum Caramel

4 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup dark rum

Melt the butter over medium heat in a high sided saucepan and let it start to brown (this will enrich the toasty flavors but don't let it burn!). Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in sugar, salt and rum. (The butter will bubble up the sides and may spit a little - be careful!) Return to heat to dissolve sugar if needed. Let cool 5 minutes to thicken.

Poke holes in cooled cake with a fork. Pour caramel on top of cake and spread to ensure even coverage. Sprinkle with sea salt. Let the caramel soak in for 5 minutes then devour. Leave no trace or crumb!