Jamaican chocolate cake

12 servings

Quantity Ingredient
1½ cup Self-rising flour
1½ teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Mixed Spice
¾ cup Margarine, softened
¾ cup Superfine sugar
3 Eggs
2 tablespoons Unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons Hot water
½ cup Granulated sugar
⅔ cup Water
2 Cinnamon sticks (2\")
¼ cup Dark rum
2 tablespoons Slivered almonds
6 ounces 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 1-¼ 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 ⅔ 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 spooon over cake, spreading to give a smooth even coating. Let stand several hours. Pipe (with a pastry bag) whipped cream around bottom of cake.

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