Spicing up your bread pudding with rum sauce is very important. It is a perfect vehicle for cinnamon, but I like to use something a little out of the ordinary in my bread pudding – a good hit of Chinese 5 spice. The anise, clove, fennel and sichuan pepper give both sweet and warm flavors to a bread pudding. The fifth spice, cinnamon, also comes in the 5 spice. I like to add extra so it has nice cinnamon impact. These spices do very well in a custardy bread pudding and also complement the rum sauce.

To make the best sauce, use a spiced and oaked rum. The spices and the rum play off each other nicely and round out the dish. The rum sauce is very simple to make: egg, sugar, butter, vanilla and rum are all that you need. There are no double boilers or any fancy equipment needed either. You do need a strong arm and some care, though. The sauce should be whisked constantly and when heating the mixture, be careful not to over heat it. The mixture should become smooth and thick. I whisk the mixture over heat until all the sugar is dissolved, but don’t let it boil. Using an instant read thermometer, bring the temperature to between 165F and 175F and that should do the trick. It will be thick and creamy. The rum is added after the cooking so it will still be smooth, but just a bit thinner. Add the rum to taste.

If you would rather a booze free sauce, make a simple vanilla custard sauce. A bread pudding with a vanilla custard sauce is equally nice. The recipe for the custard sauce is below.