Recipe 14 - Chocolate Rum 'n' Raisin Cake

This week I'm choosing a recipe from a book I bought on a clearance rack at the Rice University bookstore. The book, Kitchen Library Desserts by Jane Price, seems to be everything I'd want in a recipe book, as long as the recipes turn out to be good! The pages are large and each recipe is accompanied by a full page color photograph.

I have a bad habit of hemming and hawing over what to bake. So this time I decided I would open the book and roll with the first recipe I saw. I got Chocolate Rum 'n' Raisin Cake. Why not try it? I'm excited and I hope it's tasty.

The recipe has about 3700 calories total.

Chocolate Rum 'n' Raisin Cake

Serves 8 (more for us)

Preparation Time: 20 minutes +

Cooking Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

2 T dark rum

50g raisins, finely chopped

160g self-rising flour

40g all-purpose flour

35g unsweetened cocoa powder, plus extra, to dust

65g superfine sugar

45g demerara sugar

210g unsalted butter

1 T golden syrup or dark corn syrup

125g chopped dark chocolate

2 eggs, lightly beaten

confectioners' sugar, to dust

whipped cream, to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 325 Fahrenheit, gas mark 3. Grease a deep 8 inch round cake pan. Line the base and sides of the pan with parchment paper.

Combine the rum, raisins, and 60ml hot water in a small bowl and set aside. Sift the flours and cocoa powder into a large bowl and make a well in the center.

Combine the superfine sugar, demerara sugar, butter, golden syrup, and chocolate in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted and all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat. Stir in the rum and raisins.

Using a metal spoon, stir the butter mixture into the dry ingredients until combined. Add the eggs and mix well until smooth. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth out the surface.

Bake for 60 - 90 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Let the cake cool in the pan for 1 hour before turning out onto a wire rack. Dust the cake with cocoa powder and confectioners' sugar before serving. Serve warm with whipped cream.