What desserts to eat with rum – 3 rum pairing ideas and cocktail recipes
When determining the best desserts that go well with rum, it’s easy to call to mind classic rum soaked cakes like Tres Leches cake, Baba au Rhum, Savarins, Romanian Rum cakes and Polish & Ukrainian Babkas. These are all excellent variations on a perfect dream theme: desserts made with rum. In these cases, the best rum for desserts is always a dark aged rum, like the Dos Maderas 5+5 or Selección and for those desserts that get lit on fire, including the deceptively complex yet truly simple New Orleans Bananas Foster, a higher proof dark rum is ideal.
It’s hard to choose the best fruity dessert with rum but outside of Bananas Foster, the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake has its devotees, for sure. Classic pies and fruit tarts ranging from strawberry-rhubarb, apple streusel, caramel pear, to sweet potato and pumpkin and all the way to nutty Pecan pie and Mississippi Mud will no doubt entertain a pour of rum as a friendly assist for digestion and enjoyment. Rum pastries that involve dried fruits soaking in rum before being folded into confectionary dough are easy brunch option favorites for folks looking to enjoy a pairing during the weekend daylight hours. Speaking of brunch, how does a slice of Pecan Sour Cream Coffee cake with an El Carajillo sound to enjoy the newspaper and your Sunday late afternoon?
El Carajillo
Born out of that pervasively ubiquitous feeling that encourages one to mutter any variant of the sentiment “f*@!k it” as well as the more practical notion of needing a pick-me-up after a particularly heavy meal, the rum coffee cocktail known as the “Carajillo” isn’t meant to be fussy. A combination of spirit and espresso that will bring you your caffeine and punch its way through near any decadent dessert pairing of your choosing, this simple drink means business. Carajillo stems from the word for courage, coraje, and the similar sounding phrase que ara guillo, translates to roughly “in a hurry.” In Andalucía, the expletive carajo is often shouted after partaking in one. Writer Michael Snyder documents this well in his PUNCH piece. Pour your fresh shot of espresso over a large ice cube and then pour your rum atop. Optional garnish: lemon peel, piece of chocolate or a singed star anise.
- 1.5 oz. Dos Maderas 5+5 Rum
- 2 oz. Hot Espresso
Apart from rum soaked cakes with dark caramel rum sauces, pies and pastries, another category of desserts to pair with rum include any and all gelato or ice cream. All flavors win here like vanilla, matcha, strawberry, chocolate, coconut, salted-caramel, butter pecan, maple walnut, and we certainly cannot forsake the Rum Raisin which also incorporates dried fruits to soak up the rum.
Dessert drinks with rum are some of our favorite guilty pleasures to be born out of the vintage soda pop diner world with classics like boozy Root Beer Floats & Egg Creams or any number of spiked malt options like vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. That being said, it’s impossible not to acknowledge that the Piña Colada is king of all the land and sea of dessert rum drinks.
Piña Colada
Below is an easy shaken recipe you can try at home. To learn a bit more about the backstory of this famous cocktail, and find a recipe for your blender, check out the details I wrote up on this delectable concoction on the Dos Maderas website cocktail page here.
- 1 1/2 ounces rum – Dos Maderas 5+3 Rum
- 1 oz. Cream of Coconut
- 1 oz Coconut Milk
- 1.75 oz. fresh pressed pineapple juice
What chocolate to eat with rum – Pairing rum with Chocolate
All sorts of chocolate desserts exist because it turns out humanity truly understands joy, excess and forbidden paradise on earth. Chocolate by itself is like a cocktail combining bitter earthy cacao, creamy milk and sugar to balance it all out with sweetness. Adding rum to that scenario seems like a fine idea wouldn’t you say?
When discussing chocolate in all its forms including inspired cookie, cake, tart and pie iterations, aged rum pairings with milk, coffee and or other tea options will never let you down. But also, sipping rum neat is a more than fine idea when eating chocolate as is. As a general rule of thumb, higher cacao percentages in chocolate appreciate more maturity in aged rum. So what is the best chocolate for drinking rum?
Gianduja
I’m inclined to vote gianduja which is an italian-style chocolate that incorporates a minimum of 30% hazelnut paste into its being. The savory character of nuts offers chocolate a sweet & salty connection to pair with. Gianduja is lighter than traditional dark chocolate but darker than milk chocolate and its hazelnut addition is every nut lover’s dream sidekick. If you love spreading Nutella on toast, enjoying a piece of gianduja is your next rung up on the ladder.
Almond nut barks
Almond nut barks that run 60% and higher cocoa are also a delectable chocolate snack with rum and may run a close 2nd place. Try a neat pour of 5+5, Selección or Luxus with either nut accented chocolate to decide what chocolate you prefer best with what rum. You’ll get a nice range of sweetness and secondary character to consider the best chocolate rum affinity for your palate.
Boozy hot cocoa with rum
Beverage-wise, rum and chocolate milk in iterations evoking the Rum Cow or in Hot Cocoa recipes are your ticket to straight up adulting. For nostalgia’s sake, you can never go back to your childhood, but why would you when you can have a boozy hot cocoa with rum? Consider also co-basing your spirit with a darker amaro like Averna or even Fernet. Or if you are feeling particularly motivated, try whipping up an ounce of amaro in your heavy cream to use as a float.
Other great food pairings with rum
As mentioned at the start, rum can also accent dishes served as more than just a snack or a dessert. As of late, I’ve seen aged rum pairings with charred steaks ranging from classic beef to sesame crusted tuna versions gaining unconventional but fascinating traction. Try a medium rare steak with char and russet fried potatoes with a pour of Dos Maderas 5+5 and experience the moment in all its glory. Ceviche, which are citrus cured raw fish dishes, and lighter rums like the Dos Maderas 5+3 on ice are a perfect match. Rum, after all, does love citrus. Rum glazed chicken wings? It turns out that sipping the rum you glaze your wings with is just as enjoyable as you would imagine it to be. Happy eating & drinking!