Eggnog Cherry Bundt Cake

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sour cream
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 cups eggnog (good quality-thick)
1/4 cup dark rum (or brandy or more eggnog)
1 cup dark canned cherries

On low speed, cream butter, sugar and sour cream until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs.

Sift together dry ingredients.

Combine eggnog and rum (if using).

Alternately add dry mix and eggnog mix to butter and sugar until well mixed. Batter will be very thick!

Pour half batter into greased and floured bundt pan. Spread cherries on top-towards middle of cake avoiding both sides (want to form a ring of cherries in center of each slice). Top with remaining half of batter.

Bake at 325�F for 90 minutes. Cake is done when golden brown and sides pull away from pan. Do not underbake.

The cake is rich enough without frosting. I usually pin paper doilies over top of cake with toothpicks, then sift confectioners sugar over top (or I suppose you could use a dark chocolate glaze). Remove doilies and you've got a pretty lacey-snowy design. You can decorate the base with holiday greenery sprig here and there. It's one of those nice easy desserts people go nuts over, you can do ahead, it holds without collapsing, and it looks great on a side table-or as a centerpiece -through the whole meal.