Rum balls

Decadent, chocolatey, rum-soaked cake pops that are perfect for the holidays and require no baking.

  • Cooking time
    1 hour
  • Calories
    kcal
Recommended by
97.8
%
of
10968
viewers who rated this recipe on Youtube

Many Calcuttans have grown up eating rum balls from Kathleen, Nahoum's, or Flurys, and many more. Rum balls were developed as a way for bakeries to use up leftover cakes and trimmings, but they are delicious—very often tastier than the cakes they were made from! They are the perfect gifts for holiday parties, as they are easy to make, easy to transport and easy to consume without making a mess—but most importantly they are very rich, very satisfying, and they have rum! Could it BE any better?

In this recipe we are starting with a readymade fruitcake, but if you have some leftovers from a fruitcake you made, put it in your rum balls! Use the recipe as a guide because depending on the cake you are using the quantities of rum or corn syrup may need to be adjusted. If it is too shaggy, add more cake. If it is dry, add some rum. We are keeping the frosting simple by dipping the balls in dark chocolate, but there are many possible variations. Hope you give these a try!

Books in this recipe

No items found.
Like the work we do? Help keep this site ad-free by making a donation.
Donate

Ingredients

Serves
20 rum balls
  • 160 g Marie biscuits or plain wafers
  • 320 g fruitcake
  • 40 g cocoa powder (our favourite cocoa powder)
  • 120 g corn syrup
  • 120 g dark rum
  • 60 g cashew nuts
  • 200 g dark chocolate (for the frosting)

Method

  1. Crush Marie biscuits and crumble the fruitcake in a mixing bowl until no large chunks remain.
  2. Add cocoa powder, dark rum, corn syrup and chopped cashew nuts, and mix until uniform.
  3. Divide the mixture into 40 g portions, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  4. Roll into smooth balls and put them back in the fridge until needed.
  5. For the frosting, melt chocolate over a baine marie.
  6. Dip each rum ball in the melted chocolate and allow it to set. For an added flourish, once the rum balls are set, pour the remaining melted chocolate in cone and form a in zigzag pattern.
  7. Let the rum balls set for a few hours at room temperature before serving them. These can be stored outside in paper boxes for upto 7 days in winter.

Recipe discussion

Did this recipe help you cook something that made you happy?

At Bong Eats, we are working to standardise Bengali recipes, and present them to the world in a way that anyone, anywhere will be able to cook Bengali food with confidence—even if they have never tasted it before. We want the world to know that there is Indian food beyond tikka masala.

A lot of time and money goes into creating precise recipes such as this one. We don't want to depend on advertisements that track our viewers' activities through third-party cookies; we do not want take sponsorship money from companies that don't make subpar products.

You can help us make this a sustainable venture that can employ talented local writers, editors, photographers, recipe-testers, and more. Donate to keep us going.

Make a One-time donation

Help us keep Bong Eats free and open for everyone by making a one-time contribution. You can donate as much as you want. No amount is too little.

Donate
Become a member ⭐️

Join to get access to a vibrant private community of people who full of people who love to cook, feed and eat. Get answers to your questions about recipes, techniques, where to find ingredients from fellow members. If you love cooking, this is the place for you.

Monthly LIVE cookalongs
Shiny new private forum
Adda after every video release
Personalised recommendations
✨ See Membership Perks ✨
OR
Art by Ritwika
A fun, private community for enthusiasts of Bengali food

We're building a community

With Bong Eats adda we are trying to create a quiet corner on the internet for people who love nothing more than cooking and feeding people. The focus is naturally on Bengali and South Asian food, but as anyone who has spent time with food and its history knows, everything in food is interconnected. Nowhere is this more true than in Bengal, the melting point of so many cultures of the world—home to the first "global cuisine", as food historian Pritha Sen puts it. If that sounds like just the place you have been looking for, come help us build this space together. We are just getting started.

Join now
Join our 2000+ strong community

🧣 Winter 🫛

Bakes & Roasts

Posted on
December 21, 2023
by
Bong Eats

Winter is here. It is time to get baking. Here are some ideas, both savoury and sweet.

Read More »

✨ What's new?

View all »

Peyajkoli Bhaja

A stir-fry with onion-blossom stalk

  • 40 mins
  • 160
    kcal
Viewers liked this
%

Bhetki Machher Jhol

With winter vegetables

  • 45 mins
  • 208
    kcal
Viewers liked this
%

Kacha Tetuler Tok

A light, green-tamarind chutney

  • 30 mins
  • 103
    kcal
Viewers liked this
%

Duck Vindaloo

Hot-sour-spicy duck slow-cooked with garlic, vinegar and spices

  • 60 mins
  • 365
    kcal
Viewers liked this
%
See all New recipes »
More
christmas
recipes
View all »

Calcutta Christmas Fruitcake

A boozy, fruit-and-nut encrusted indulgence

  • 4-pound cake
  • 331
    kcal

Pepper pork ribs

Pork ribs, marinated with malt vinegar and worcestershire sauce in a thick, peppery, braised sauce.

  • 90 minutes
  • kcal

Beef Pot Roast

Slow-cooked beef pot roast with vegetables—a Christmas-special Anglo-Indian recipe.

  • 5 hours
  • kcal
More
cake
recipes
View all »

Chocolate Cake

Rich, moist, tender chocolate cake with a silky dark chocolate ganache—classic!

  • 1 hour, 30 minutes
  • kcal

Orange Poppyseed Cake

A tender, moist orange and poppyseed 'pound cake' with a sweet-sour orange drizzle

  • 2 hours
  • 304
    kcal

Steamed Carrot & Ginger Pudding

Anglo-Indian steamed cake with ginger, served with a tea-infused crème anglaise. Perfect for the colder months.

  • 3 hours
  • kcal