A Festive Bundt and Hayden Turns 3 Months Old

I realize it's already December and no one is talking about Thanksgiving anymore. But this year we were lucky enough to celebrate Turkey Day twice! My aunt and uncle hosted a post Thanksgiving dinner at their house the day after Black Friday, which was nice because they had a smoked turkey, and a few different side dishes than we usually have- including squash casserole and shrimp stuffing. It was a casual affair as everyone brought leftovers to gobble up- my contribution was mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and this cake. It was kind of a last minute idea, but I hope it's a tradition we can keep up.

I made this about an hour before I had to leave to go to my aunts' house. I wasn't sure what I was going to make but I browsed through my trusty Bundt cookbook and this cake called out to me. It uses a boxed cake mix as the base, which was fine by me since I was already running behind and didn't have time to soften and cream butter. I was also holding Hayden while making this cake, so at least you know it's easy! It also incorporates egg nog and rum, which is a no brainer because not only festive but I love baking with booze. I don't drink it, but it's more than welcome in my cakes :-).

This recipe has you butter a Bundt pan and press sliced almonds up the sides of the pan. I was going to omit the nuts, but I'm so glad I left them in. The almonds create a buttery, slightly crunchy crust to the moist and tender cake. There's a full cup of egg nog in this cake, but if you chose to omit the rum, then you can just add equal parts egg nog and add a little rum extract. But don't forget to add the nutmeg, that's what makes this cake special. This cake is pretty enough for holiday gatherings but simple enough to cut a big hunk off and eat with your hands. In fact that's how a few of my family members ate this cake last week, and that's quite okay by me. If you try this cake, I hope you like it. Even my eggnog hater husband liked this cake.

Egg Nog Bundt Cake from Bundt Classics

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• 2 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1 (18.25 oz.) package yellow cake mix
• 1 cup egg nog
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup rum*
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease a 12 cup Bundt Pan with 2 tablespoons of butter (do not use cooking spray). Press almonds on the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

In a large mixing bowl, mix all remaining ingredients. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Carefully spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bakefor 55-64 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

*NOTE: I used a combination of light and dark rum. If you don't want to use alcohol in this cake, substitute the 1/2 cup rum with equal parts egg nog and add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon rum extract to the batter.

My sweet boy turned three months old this past Thursday. It's hard to believe how much he's grown sometimes. He's a full two feet long and 14 pounds. I put him on my kitchen scale to weigh him and my scale got confused and gave me a blank reading. Come to find out, my scale isn't able to carry that much weight, so I had to stand on the regular scale, then put him on it to figure out how much he weighed. haha! He's my little chunky monkey and I'm so proud of him and proud to be his momma. Feeding him breastmilk is so rewarding for me because I feel like I'm solely responsible for his survival. Does that make sense? I put those fat rolls there. I am contributing to those chubby hands and feet and I just love it- it makes all the hard work so worth it. Speaking of hands...the boy LOVES his hands. He wants to eat them and play with them and he rub them all the time. He reminds me of a little old man sitting in a recliner rubbing his hands together. He is such a little lover.