Chocolate & Rum Cake. Or, Not Sports.

I intended to get a lot of book writing done during this two-week vacation. The problem is that the chapter I'm working on is primarily about athletes. Sports: not my forté. I am the person who realizes right around the middle of the fourth quarter that her mind has been everywhere but on the football game. Though I greatly enjoy the sound of sports announcers as they excitedly and rapidly announce plays without missing a beat, I usually have no idea what they're describing. It's not for lack of trying, but there's something akin to Charlie Brown's teacher going "wah wah-wah wah" that happens to me with sports-talk. Needless to say, when it came to this book chapter, serious procrastinating was in store.

My last official day of vacation found me doing everything but the task at hand. My "daily" morning writing routine gave way to sleeping in an extra hour, a brisk walk around the neighborhood (it was finally sunny; I had to!), followed by reading and an afternoon in the kitchen.

My thoughts turned to the things lurking in my cupboards, namely expiring baking chocolate and a nagging shots-worth of rum taking up space. 

Both ingredients came together and met their fate as cake drizzle. That's not really a fair characterization, because this cake would be nothing without them. The cake base is as basic as they come: an egg, some flour, milk, baking powder and sugar. Not even a subtle flavoring, like vanilla. But it is feathery and full of pockets, perfect for a saturation of sweetened rum and strong chocolate. On top of it is a fine dusting of cocoa. We found the chocolate to be almost too overpowering to taste the rum in the cake, but if you get a bite without the chocolate, the booze is quite pronounced.

The recipe came from I Know How to Cook, a bible of French cuisine from which I've made chicken fricassée and souvaroff cookies with pretty good luck. I'll probably keep this one in rotation, too.

Chocolate & Rum Cake
Adapted from I Know How to Cook

Note: make this at least 2 hours in advance of when you wish to eat it.

For the cake:
1 egg
Scant 1/3 c. superfine sugar (or regular sugar thrown in the food processor for a minute)
1 tsp. baking powder
Scant 1/2 c. flour
3 T. milk

For the rum syrup:
2 T. rum - spiced or dark
2 T. sugar
2 T. water

For the chocolate top:
4 oz. baking chocolate, chopped*
1/3 c. sugar, or to taste
Generous 1/3 c. butter
Scant 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting
*note: you could also just use a 4 oz. dark chocolate bar rather than the unsweetened chocolate and sugar combo

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8- or 9-inch cake pan generously with butter. Line the bottom with parchment and butter that, too.

Mix the cake ingredients together and pour into prepared pan. Bake 20 minutes, or until the cake pulls away from the sides. Turn the cake out of the pan and cool.

Make the rum syrup by warming the rum, water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium low, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Carefully spoon the syrup over the cake.

Melt the chocolate, butter and sugar in a double boiler, stirring until well mixed. Let cool and thicken back up a bit (it will still be fairly runny, but not soupy), then spoon over the top of the cake, letting it overflow on the sides if you'd like.

Place the cocoa powder in a wire mesh strainer and coat the top with a good dusting. Chill for at least 2 hours.