For Cake: Preheat oven to 325øF. Grease & flour 10" tube or 13-cup Bundt Pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour batter over nuts. Bake 1 hour. Cool. Invert on serving plate. Prick top in many places (with something small like fork tines or a toothpick). Drizzle and smooth glaze evenly over top and sides. Allow cake to absorb glaze. Repeat until glaze is used completely.
For Glaze: Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water & sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in Rum.
Optional: Decorate with whole maraschino cherries and border of sugar frosting or whipped cream. Serve with seedless green grapes dusted w/powdered sugar