Picture the moment a rum cake arrives at the table. The glaze catches the light. The aroma of butter and warm rum fills the room. You press a fork through the crumb and it gives way slowly, dense and tender all at once. It is one of those food moments that feels complete before you even take a bite.
Then comes the question that every mindful eater eventually asks. What am I actually eating?
It is a fair question, and we think it deserves a real answer. Here at Buddha's Cup, we bake our Hawaiian rum cake on a working Kona coffee farm in Holualoa, on the Big Island of Hawaii. We know what goes into our cakes because we know this land, we know the people who grow the ingredients around us, and we care about every detail of what we put out into the world. That position gives us something worth sharing: an honest, grounded perspective on rum cake calories and nutrition that goes deeper than a standard label ever could.
This article walks you through the full nutritional picture of rum cake. We cover calorie ranges across styles and serving sizes, break down the fat, sugar, carbohydrate, and protein content, explain what rum actually contributes to the numbers, and give you practical guidance for enjoying this treat with intention. Whether you are buying rum cake as a gift, planning to enjoy a slice during a visit to our farm, or simply curious before you indulge, this guide gives you everything you need to know about rum cake calories and nutrition.
We are not here to talk you out of enjoying cake. We are here to help you enjoy it more fully, because understanding what you are eating is part of savoring it.
What Is Rum Cake and Why Does It Matter Nutritionally?
Before we look at any numbers, it helps to understand what rum cake actually is as a food. The category is broader than most people realize, and that breadth is exactly why calorie counts can vary so dramatically from one rum cake to the next. Understanding the foundation of this dessert gives the nutrition data real meaning.
A Brief History of Rum Cake as a Dessert
Rum cake did not begin in Hawaii. Its roots reach back to the Caribbean and to British baking traditions that were shaped by the colonial sugar trade. Sugar cane was the economic engine of the Caribbean for centuries, and rum, distilled from sugar cane molasses, became one of the region's defining exports. Bakers in the region began soaking dried fruits in rum and folding those preserved fruits into dense, celebratory cakes. These were cakes built to last, made rich with fat and sugar to extend their shelf life and to mark important occasions. Christmas cake, black cake, and plum pudding all share this same ancestral thread.
As Caribbean communities spread and trading routes expanded, rum-soaked baked goods traveled with them. British colonists brought their baking traditions to new territories, and local ingredients and customs reshaped those recipes along the way. When rum cake arrived in Hawaii, it met a culture already steeped in gifting traditions, in the spirit of aloha, and in a pantry full of local ingredients that had no equivalent anywhere else. Macadamia nuts, coconut, and locally grown cane sugar transformed the original recipe into something distinctly Hawaiian.
Today, rum cake is woven into Hawaiian gifting culture. You find it at airport shops, at farm stands, at holiday markets, and at specialty bakeries. It is a standard souvenir and a beloved hostess gift. And because it carries so much cultural weight, it is worth understanding what goes into it. You can read more about how this dessert evolved on our rum cake history page.
The history matters nutritionally because it explains the ingredient profile. Rum cake was designed to be rich. It was built for celebration, preservation, and indulgence. The calorie density is not a flaw in the recipe. It is a feature of the original purpose. When you understand that, the numbers feel less like a warning and more like context.
The Core Ingredients That Define Rum Cake Nutrition
Every rum cake, regardless of origin or style, is built on five foundational components. Flour provides the structure. Butter provides richness, moisture, and a significant portion of the fat content. Sugar feeds the yeast or the creaming process, adds sweetness, and contributes to the glaze. Eggs bind the crumb and add protein, fat, and a small amount of micronutrients including Vitamin A and iron. Rum, either baked into the batter or applied as a glaze after baking, adds flavor and, in some preparations, a meaningful amount of residual alcohol and calories.
Each of these ingredients pulls its weight in the nutritional totals. Butter is the dominant contributor to fat content, particularly saturated fat. Sugar is the dominant contributor to carbohydrate content and to the glycemic load of the dessert. Flour adds the bulk of the remaining carbohydrates. Eggs are the primary protein source, though that contribution is modest. Rum adds calories through its alcohol and sugar content, though as we will explain later, its per-serving contribution is often smaller than people assume.
Hawaiian variations shift this profile in interesting ways. Our macadamia nut rum cake adds a significant source of monounsaturated fat, the same heart-healthy fat found in olive oil and avocados. Macadamia nuts also add fiber, trace minerals, and a natural richness that reduces the need for excessive butter or artificial flavor. Coconut elements, when included, add medium-chain triglycerides and a subtle sweetness that shifts the sugar balance slightly. These additions do not make rum cake a health food. But they do make a Hawaiian rum cake nutritionally different from a basic commercial version, and that difference is worth knowing.
Why Rum Cake Calorie Counts Vary So Widely
If you have ever searched for rum cake nutrition information online, you have probably encountered a wide range of numbers. One source says 285 calories per serving. Another says 400. A third lands somewhere in between. This is not because someone made a mistake. It is because rum cake is not a single standardized food.
Serving size is the first variable. A 76-gram slice and a 112-gram slice are both called "one serving" depending on who is cutting the cake. The calorie difference between those two sizes can be 100 calories or more, without any change in the recipe itself.
The rum delivery method is the second variable. Rum baked into batter behaves differently than rum applied as a glaze. Alcohol bakes off in the oven, reducing both the caloric contribution and the alcohol content. A glaze made with rum and butter and sugar and applied after baking retains more of everything: more alcohol, more sugar, and more calories. A cake that is glazed generously will always have a higher calorie count than a cake where the rum was incorporated during mixing.
The third variable is production context. A homemade rum cake made with real butter, fresh eggs, and a generous rum soak is a different food than a commercial rum cake made with shortening, artificial flavors, and minimal alcohol. An artisan or farm-made cake, like what we produce at Buddha's Cup, sits in a different category again. We use real ingredients without fillers, which means the calorie count reflects actual food rather than filler-padded product. The numbers may be similar on a label, but what they represent is not.
According to data from SnapCalorie, rum cake can range from 300 to 400 calories per serving depending on recipe variations. That range is real, and it is explained entirely by the variables above. Keep this context in mind as we move through the specific numbers in the next section.
Rum Cake Calories: The Numbers Across Styles and Serving Sizes
Now we get into the specific data. We have gathered nutritional information from multiple sources to give you the most complete picture possible. These numbers come from recipe databases, nutrition tracking apps, and food calculation tools. They represent real recipes and real products, not theoretical ideals.
Standard Rum Cake: Calorie and Macro Breakdown
The most commonly cited reference point for standard rum cake places a 76-gram serving at approximately 285 calories. At this serving size, you can expect roughly 4 to 5 grams of protein, 12 to 14 grams of fat, and 38 to 42 grams of carbohydrates. This is the lighter end of the rum cake spectrum and reflects a cake that is modestly glazed and not particularly dense with added mix-ins.
When you scale up to a 100-gram serving, the numbers shift. SnapCalorie's vanilla rum cake data places that size at approximately 350 calories, with proportionally higher fat and carbohydrate content. If you are cutting yourself a generous slice, that is closer to the range you should expect.
The broader range of 300 to 400 calories for a typical serving captures most commercially available and home-baked rum cakes. This range assumes a cake made with standard ingredients, a butter-and-rum glaze, and a serving size somewhere between three and four ounces. For planning purposes, using 350 calories as your midpoint estimate is a reasonable and honest approach.
What does that look like in macro terms? Expect fat to account for 30 to 40 percent of the calories, carbohydrates to account for 45 to 55 percent, and protein to contribute the remaining 5 to 10 percent. This is a dessert built primarily on fat and carbohydrates, as most baked goods are. The macronutrient split is not unusual for the category.
Caribbean and Chocolate Rum Cake Variations
Caribbean-style rum cakes, particularly those made with chocolate, tend to run slightly higher in calories than their lighter counterparts. Data from Nutribit places a Caribbean chocolate rum cake at approximately 390 calories for a 112-gram serving, which is about four ounces. That same style in a smaller 57-gram portion comes in around 200 calories, with 3 grams of protein, 30 grams of carbohydrates, and 8 grams of fat.
What does chocolate add to the equation? Cocoa solids contribute fat, primarily from cocoa butter, and a modest amount of antioxidants. The calorie increase from chocolate is real but not dramatic. The more significant factor is often the chocolate glaze or ganache layer that accompanies chocolate rum cake, which adds both fat and sugar. Dark chocolate versions with less added sugar will come in lower than milk chocolate versions coated in a sweet glaze.
Jamaican-style liqueur dessert cake, a close relative of rum cake that uses rum liqueur in the soak, averages around 320 calories for an 80-gram serving. This style often uses a heavier fruit incorporation, which adds natural sugars but also some fiber and micronutrients from the dried fruits. The result is a slightly different nutritional signature than a plain rum cake, but still solidly in the 300-plus calorie range per serving.
The takeaway from these variations is consistent. Regardless of the style, rum cake is a 200-to-400 calorie treat depending on the size of your slice and the richness of the recipe. The range is wide, but the floor and ceiling are predictable once you know what you are looking for.
From-Scratch Rum Cake vs. Commercial Products
Home-baked rum cake recipes clock in at the higher end of the calorie range. A standard from-scratch recipe produces approximately 400 kilocalories per serving, with around 50 grams of carbohydrates, 20 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein. These numbers reflect the generous use of real butter, full-fat sour cream or buttermilk in some recipes, and a glaze that is not rationed for label optics.
Commercial rum cakes, including coconut rum cake sampler products sold at gift shops and chain retailers, present interesting label-reading challenges. The serving sizes on these products are often smaller than what a person would actually eat in one sitting, which makes the per-serving numbers appear modest. When you calculate the nutrition per 100 grams, commercial products often land in a comparable range to home-baked versions, despite using ingredient substitutions like shortening for butter or artificial rum flavoring instead of actual rum.
Rum baba, a French and Italian cousin to rum cake, offers another reference point. This yeast-leavened cake soaked in rum syrup runs between 300 and 400 calories per 100 grams, depending on how heavily it is soaked. The texture is lighter than a dense Hawaiian rum cake, but the sugar content of the soaking syrup pushes the numbers higher than the airy crumb might suggest.
Artisan and farm-made rum cakes, like the ones we bake here at Buddha's Cup, use real ingredients without the stabilizers or artificial flavors found in mass-produced versions. This means the calorie count reflects genuine food. Real butter, real eggs, real rum. The numbers may look similar to a commercial product on a nutrition label, but the ingredient quality and the absence of fillers represent a meaningful difference in what you are actually consuming.
Breaking Down the Fat, Sugar, and Carbohydrates in Rum Cake
Calories tell one part of the story. The macronutrient breakdown tells the rest. Here is what the fat, sugar, and carbohydrate content of rum cake actually means for your body and your dietary planning.
Fats in Rum Cake: Saturated Fat, Butter, and Nuts
Fat content in rum cake spans a wide range. At the lower end, a modest serving of a lightly glazed rum cake might contain 8 grams of fat. At the higher end, a generous slice of a butter-rich recipe with macadamia nuts can reach 20 grams of fat per serving. The midpoint for most standard recipes is somewhere between 12 and 16 grams.
The majority of that fat comes from butter. Butter is high in saturated fat, the type that nutrition guidelines recommend limiting to protect cardiovascular health. Some from-scratch recipes contain up to 12 grams of saturated fat per serving, which is a meaningful portion of the daily limit recommended by most health authorities. This is worth knowing, particularly for people managing cholesterol or heart health conditions.
However, the fat story is more nuanced when macadamia nuts enter the picture. Macadamia nuts are one of the richest natural sources of monounsaturated fat, the same type found in olive oil. Monounsaturated fats are associated with improved cholesterol profiles and cardiovascular health when they replace saturated fats in the diet. When a Hawaiian rum cake includes a generous layer of macadamia nuts, the fat profile shifts. The total fat content may be higher, but the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fat is more favorable.
This is one of the meaningful nutritional distinctions between a standard rum cake and a macadamia nut version. If you are curious about those differences in more detail, our page on the difference between regular and macadamia nut rum cake goes deeper into what sets these styles apart. The short version is this: the macadamia nut version is richer in calories and total fat, but it offers a better fat quality profile than a plain butter-only cake.
Sugar and Carbohydrates: The Glaze Effect
Carbohydrates are the dominant macronutrient in rum cake by percentage of total calories. Across all the sources we reviewed, carbohydrate content ranges from approximately 30 grams per serving at the lighter end to 55 grams per serving in richer recipes. Most typical servings land between 38 and 50 grams of carbohydrates.
Sugar is a significant portion of that carbohydrate total. Some from-scratch recipes contain up to 30 grams of sugar per serving, which is more than half the daily limit recommended by the American Heart Association for added sugar intake. That number sounds alarming until you remember that rum cake is a dessert, not a staple food. The comparison that matters is not to your daily sugar budget across all meals. It is to other desserts in the same category, where rum cake is not especially unusual.
The rum glaze deserves specific attention here. Many people think of the glaze primarily as a flavor element. It is, in fact, one of the primary sugar delivery mechanisms in the finished cake. A glaze made from butter, rum, and sugar, poured over a hot cake and allowed to absorb into the crumb, can add 10 to 15 grams of sugar per serving beyond what was already in the batter. The moist, glossy, intensely flavored quality that makes rum cake so distinctive is largely a product of this glaze. And so is a meaningful portion of the calorie count.
Hawaiian rum, which comes from locally grown sugar cane, has its own story worth understanding. If you are curious about where that sweetness originates, our page on when sugar cane is harvested for Hawaiian rum explains the agricultural side of the equation. The Big Island's volcanic soil and year-round growing season create a sugar cane with particular character, and that character carries through into the rum and ultimately into the cake.
For health-conscious readers, the glycemic load of rum cake is worth considering. A high carbohydrate and sugar content means a faster rise in blood glucose compared to lower-glycemic foods. Pairing a slice of rum cake with something that slows digestion, like coffee, protein, or fat, can help moderate that response. We will return to this idea in the section on mindful enjoyment.
Protein and Fiber: What Rum Cake Contributes and What It Does Not
Rum cake is not a meaningful source of protein or fiber, and we want to be straightforward about that. The protein content of a typical serving ranges from 3 to 6 grams, depending on the size of the slice and the specific recipe. This protein comes primarily from eggs, with secondary contributions from flour and, in macadamia nut versions, from the nuts themselves.
Fiber content is minimal. Most rum cake recipes deliver approximately 1 gram of dietary fiber per serving or less. This reflects the use of refined all-purpose flour rather than whole grain alternatives, and the absence of significant fruit or seed inclusions in most standard recipes. Rum cake does not make a meaningful contribution to your daily fiber goal, and you should not expect it to.
What rum cake does offer in terms of micronutrients is modest but real. The eggs and butter in a well-made rum cake contribute small amounts of calcium, iron, and Vitamin A. A serving might provide approximately 100 milligrams of calcium, 2 milligrams of iron, and 500 IU of Vitamin A. These numbers are not transformative, but they are not zero either, and they represent an advantage of using real dairy and eggs over artificial substitutes.
The honest framing here is this: rum cake is a treat. It is not designed to be nutritionally dense. It is designed to be delicious, celebratory, and deeply satisfying in a way that few foods achieve. Holding it to the nutritional standard of a vegetable or a protein supplement misses the point entirely. The right question is not whether rum cake is nutritious. It is whether you can enjoy it thoughtfully, with full awareness of what it is. The answer to that question is yes, and we will show you how.
The Role of Rum in Rum Cake Nutrition
The word "rum" is right there in the name. So naturally, one of the most common nutritional questions about this cake involves the alcohol itself. How much is in there? Does it cook off? Should certain people avoid it? Here is the full picture.
How Much Alcohol Actually Remains After Baking?
This question matters to a wide range of people: parents considering rum cake for children, pregnant individuals navigating safe food choices, people in recovery from alcohol use, and anyone who simply prefers to know what they are consuming.
The honest answer is nuanced. Alcohol does evaporate during baking, but it does not evaporate completely. The common belief that all alcohol cooks off in the oven is a myth. Research on baking and cooking shows that residual alcohol remains after heat exposure, with the amount depending on the temperature, the duration of cooking, and how the alcohol was incorporated.
When rum is mixed into the batter before baking and the cake is cooked at standard temperatures for 45 to 60 minutes, a significant portion of the alcohol evaporates. What remains is likely a very small fraction of the original alcohol content, spread across the entire cake. Per individual serving, the residual is minimal.
The rum glaze is a different story. A glaze made with rum and applied to a finished, cooling cake does not go through any significant heat exposure after application. The alcohol in a rum glaze is largely retained. If the glaze is generous, the alcohol contribution per serving is real and should not be ignored. This matters for the populations mentioned above. If you are avoiding alcohol entirely, a heavily glazed rum cake may not be the right choice, and it is always reasonable to ask how a cake was prepared.
Our page on what Hawaiian rum cake is gives additional context about how our cakes are made and what that means for people with specific dietary considerations.
Rum's Own Nutritional Profile
Rum itself is not a nutritionally complex substance. A standard 1.5-ounce serving of rum contains approximately 160 calories, with negligible protein, fat, and micronutrients. Those calories come almost entirely from the alcohol content, with ethanol delivering 7 calories per gram. Some sweeter rum products also contain residual sugar, which adds a small additional carbohydrate contribution.
When you bake a full cake that uses, say, half a cup of rum in the batter and another quarter cup in the glaze, the total rum calorie contribution to the entire cake might be in the range of 200 to 350 calories from alcohol and any retained sugar. Divided across 12 to 16 servings, that works out to roughly 15 to 25 calories per slice attributable specifically to the rum. This is a modest contribution compared to the butter, flour, and sugar in the recipe.
The Caloric Math: Does Rum Significantly Change the Total?
Let us work through the math plainly. A typical rum cake recipe might use three-quarters of a cup of rum total, split between the batter and the glaze. At roughly 1,000 calories per cup of rum (accounting for approximately 160 calories per 1.5 ounces), three-quarters of a cup contributes around 750 calories to the whole cake. For a cake that yields 12 servings, that is about 62 calories per serving from rum before baking. After baking, with partial evaporation of the batter-incorporated rum, the per-serving contribution from rum likely drops to somewhere in the range of 20 to 40 calories for most recipes.
Compare that to the butter in the same recipe. Two sticks of butter, which is common in a rum cake, contribute approximately 1,600 calories to the cake, or about 133 calories per serving. The flour adds another 1,200 to 1,500 calories across the whole cake. The sugar adds another 1,000 to 1,200 calories.
The rum, while flavorful and central to the identity of the cake, is not the primary calorie driver. The name "rum cake" can create an impression that the alcohol content is what makes this dessert heavy. In reality, the butter, sugar, and flour contribute far more to the total calorie count. The rum is what makes it special. The other ingredients are what make it substantial.
Hawaiian Rum Cake Specifically: What Makes Our Version Different
We have covered the general category. Now let us talk about what a Hawaiian rum cake is, and specifically what makes the cakes we make at Buddha's Cup worth understanding on their own terms.
Locally Sourced Ingredients and What They Mean for Quality
Ingredient quality shapes both flavor and nutritional character in ways that standard labels cannot fully capture. When we bake a rum cake on our farm in Holualoa, we are working with ingredients that reflect this specific place. Holualoa sits at an elevation of approximately 1,400 feet on the western slope of Hualalai, in the heart of the Kona Coffee Belt. The climate here is what farmers call the Kona cloud pattern: sunny mornings, cloud cover in the afternoons, and consistent temperatures year-round. That environment shapes everything that grows here, and by extension, everything that gets baked here.
Real butter versus shortening is not a trivial distinction. Butter contributes genuine dairy fat, natural flavor compounds, and a texture that shortening cannot replicate. The saturated fat content is higher than in a shortening-based cake, but the flavor and ingredient integrity are also higher. Fresh eggs versus egg powder make a real difference in protein quality and in the micronutrient contribution of each serving. Cane sugar versus high-fructose corn syrup represents a difference in processing and in glycemic behavior.
Macadamia nuts are perhaps the most important Hawaiian-specific ingredient from a nutritional standpoint. These nuts are grown throughout the Big Island, and they bring a nutritional profile that butter alone cannot offer. The monounsaturated fats in macadamia nuts are genuinely heart-healthy. The nuts also contribute fiber, thiamine, manganese, and a natural richness that complements the rum and butter without requiring additional fat to achieve depth of flavor. Our Hawaiian rum cake with macadamia nuts page goes into the specifics of this ingredient and how it shapes the finished product. And if you want to know what makes our version of this cake a true expression of island baking, our Buddha's Cup Hawaiian rum cake page tells that story in full.
The nutritional implication of sourcing decisions is real. A cake made with real, identifiable ingredients, without artificial flavors or preservative fillers, may have a comparable calorie count on paper to a mass-produced version. But the ingredients doing the work are genuinely different, and the absence of additives matters, particularly for people who are paying attention to what they put in their bodies.
What Does a Hawaiian Rum Cake Actually Taste Like?
Flavor and nutrition are not separate conversations. The flavor of a food shapes how much of it you eat, how satisfied you feel afterward, and how you experience the eating itself. A deeply flavorful, satisfying slice of Hawaiian rum cake eaten slowly and consciously is a different experience from eating a flavorless, low-quality version quickly and without attention.
Hawaiian rum cake is moist in a way that few other cakes achieve. The glaze absorption process is the reason. When a hot cake comes out of the oven and the warm rum-butter-sugar glaze is poured over it, the crumb opens up and draws the glaze inward. The result is a cake that is saturated with flavor from the inside out, not frosted on the surface. This technique, applied generously, creates the dense, tender, deeply flavored quality that people describe as "rich."
What does "rich" mean nutritionally? It means the fat and sugar content of the glaze has been absorbed throughout the cake rather than sitting on top of it. It means each bite delivers more flavor per gram than a less-saturated cake would. And it means that a smaller portion can feel genuinely satisfying, because the flavor intensity is high and the eating experience is complete. You can learn more about the full sensory profile of this cake on our page about what Hawaiian rum cake tastes like. The texture, the aroma, the balance of sweetness and tropical warmth, it all connects back to the ingredients and the process.
Pairing Rum Cake with Kona Coffee: A Complete Sensory Experience
One of the most practical pieces of nutrition guidance we can offer about rum cake has nothing to do with the cake itself. It has to do with what you drink alongside it.
Kona coffee, grown here in Holualoa and throughout the coffee belt that runs along the western slope of the Big Island, is naturally high in acidity and brightness compared to many other single-origin coffees. That acidity comes from the elevation, the volcanic soil, and the specific processing methods used by small farms like ours. When you pair a cup of Kona coffee with a slice of rum cake, the coffee's bright, clean acidity cuts through the richness of the butter and glaze in a way that refreshes the palate between bites. The result is that you taste both the coffee and the cake more fully, and you are likely to eat more slowly and with more attention.
Mindful eating, which sounds like a wellness buzzword but is simply the practice of paying attention to what you are eating and why, consistently leads to greater satisfaction from smaller portions. When the pairing is excellent, when the coffee is genuinely complex and the cake is genuinely flavorful, you do not need a large serving to feel satisfied. You need a good one. Our page on pairing Kona coffee and desserts explores this idea in depth, including why the combination works chemically and experientially.
If you visit us in Holualoa, this pairing is something you can experience firsthand. Our Kona coffee farm tour gives visitors a window into the full journey of our coffee, from the trees on the hillside to the cup in your hand. Many guests enjoy a slice of rum cake alongside a tasting of our single-estate Kona coffee during the experience. It is one of those combinations that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Mindful Enjoyment: How to Fit Rum Cake into a Balanced Diet
We are not in the business of telling you how to eat. But we are in the business of making food that is worth eating thoughtfully, and we think that thoughtfulness extends to how you approach rum cake in the context of your broader diet.
Portion Awareness Without Portion Anxiety
There is a significant difference between being aware of portion size and being anxious about it. Portion awareness is a tool. It helps you make decisions that align with your goals. Portion anxiety is a burden. It turns eating into a stressful calculation that removes the pleasure from the experience entirely.
The 285 to 400 calorie range for a typical rum cake serving is a planning tool, not a judgment. If you know that your slice will cost you approximately 350 calories, you can decide how that fits into your day without drama. Maybe you skip the afternoon cookie. Maybe you take a longer walk. Maybe you simply decide the slice is worth it on its own terms and move on. All of those are reasonable responses.
What is not reasonable, from a practical standpoint, is assuming that a "serving" on a nutrition label matches the slice you are actually about to cut. Labels often reflect smaller portions than real-world eating. When you cut a slice, estimate the weight or the fraction of the whole cake honestly. A quarter of a small cake is not the same as one-sixteenth of a full cake, and those two portions can differ by 200 calories or more.
The psychological research on this point is consistent: a genuinely satisfying treat eaten with full attention and without guilt is better for long-term dietary balance than a cycle of restriction and overindulgence. Rum cake is a celebration food. Treat it like one, eat a reasonable portion with full enjoyment, and you are doing it right.