Jamaican Chocolate Cake

Servings: 12
Ingredients:

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 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.