Arriving at the marina in Turks & Caicos for the short boat ride to Parrot Cay, guests are greeted with a glass of champagne, a tiny sweet cake drenched in the local spirit of choice, and a bit of island folklore. Legend has it that history's most famous female pirate, red headed, fiery tempered, Irish Anne Bonny, looted the Caribbean and rested on the beautiful island known today as Parrot Cay. With a reputation for drinking and swearing even better than her plundering male counterparts, she most likely would have enjoyed this traditional rum spiked cake while watching the sunset from the beach of her favorite coral reef platform and planning her next pillaging adventure.

 

cuisine American
difficulty Moderate
makes 36 mini muffins
season Year Round

Ingredients for the Cakes

  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 large eggs
  • 4 medium extra ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
  • Unsalted butter

For the Rum Sauce

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons water
  • 1/4 cup dark rum

Directions for the Cakes

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Put the sugar, oil, and eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on medium speed until blended.
  3. Add the bananas to the sugar mixture and blend until evenly incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.
  4. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, & cinnamon.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix only until incorporated.
  6. Prepare a mini-muffin tin by rubbing each well with butter.
  7. Using a small cookie scoop, drop batter into each well.
  8. Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The muffins are ready when a bamboo skewer is inserted and it comes out clean. Wait 2 minutes and turn the muffins onto a baking rack.

For the Rum Sauce

  1. In a SMALL SAUCEPAN over medium heat dissolve the sugar in the water and then add the butter and rum. Heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
  2. Using tongs, lower the cakes in the rum sauce, turn over, hold muffin above sauce to let excess sauce drip and return to the the baking rack to completely cool.