Recipe#5800

Title: Jamaican Chocolate Cake

From: "Griff" 
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 02:20:13 -0700 

      Yield: 12 Servings
 
  1 1/2 c  Self-rising flour
  1 1/2 ts Baking powder
      1 ts Mixed Spice
    3/4 c  Margarine, softened
    3/4 c  Superfine sugar
      3    Eggs
      2 tb Unsweetened cocoa powder
      2 tb Hot water
    1/2 c  Granulated sugar
    2/3 c  Water
      2    Cinnamon sticks (2")
    1/4 c  Dark rum
      2 tb Slivered almonds
      6 oz Semisweet chocolate, broken
           -in pieces
           Whipped cream
 
  Preheat oven to 325'F. (165'C.). Generously grease a 5-cup fluted or
  plain tube pan and dust lightly with flour. Sift flour, baking powder
  and Mixed Spice into a bowl. Add margarine, superfine sugar and eggs.
  Blend cocoa powder with hot water and add to flour mixture. Beat well
  with a wooden spoon 2 minutes or 1 minute if using an electric mixer.
  Turn mixture into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven 1-1/4 hours or
  until well risen and cake begins to shrink from edges of pan.
  Carefully turn out cake onto a wire rack and cool.
  
  Combine granulated sugar and 2/3 cup water in a saucepan. Add
  cinnamon and heat gently, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil 5 minutes.
  Remove from heat, add rum and discard cinnamon. Place cake on a
  plate. Spoon syrup over cake and let stand 2 hours. Stud top of cake
  with almonds. Melt chocolate; carefully spoon over cake, spreading
  to give a smooth even coating. Let stand several hours. Pipe (with a
  pastry bag) whipped cream around bottom of cake.