Chocolate! Rum! And CAKE!

It's a true fact. Pirates LOVE cake.  (Also, they adore cookies, but they are loathe to admit it due to the cute-factor. Cookies, and even the saying of the word 'cookie' is hopelessly cute.)

Cake, however, is a manly dessert. A good, dense, deeply flavored cake is true gentleman's fare. Add a lot of rum to it and it's PIRATE fare! Now add chocolate and no one ever born can or wants to resist!

Pirate's Pleasure Chocolate Rum Cake

Choose yer favorite strong, dark rum for this kitchen adventure.  Of course, ye'll be wanting to have at least twice as much as the recipe calls for, in order to keep the chef well-sauced, too.

CAKE
6 ounces of your favorite hearty chocolate
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup rum
4 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

SOAKING SAUCE
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup sugar
PLUS 1/2 cup more black rum

Break up the chocolate and throw it in a large glass bowl.  Add the butter and roughly chop through it a few times.  Slosh in a cup of rum.  Now, either set the bowl over a saucepan of boiled water, or microwave it slowly (20 second pulse) until everything melts.  With a small whisk, blend everything till glossy.

Add the two sugars to the bowl of melted wonderfulness and whisk. Add the eggs and whisk again. There's a lot of whisking, it's good for your muscles.

Find or steal another bowl and sift into it the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Add about half of this to the other bowl of moist ingredients. Mix completely, then add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix completely again.

Bake in loaf pans at 350 degrees till done (when a straw or tester comes out clean). A big bread loaf pan will probably need an hour to bake, for a guide.

While the cake is baking, have some rum and gather up more butter and sugar for the soaking sauce. Throw the butter, 1/4 cup of the rum and the sugar into a sauce pan and slowly bring to a boil. Let it roll for a few minutes then take it off the heat.  Whisk in the other half cup of rum. If there's more rum in the bottle still, why not have a celebratory drink for your success in getting this far!

When the cake is done, grab a dagger or a fork or a poking stick and poke holes all over the cake. That's so the soaking sauce can really get in there. Slowly pour the soaking sauce all over the cake, delighting in the sight of it disappearing into the cake.

Now you need to finish any leftover rum cause you need the bottle. Really!  Get another bread pan out and set it right on top of the cake. You're going to want to weigh it down - the intent is to subtly compress the cake.  Take that now-empty rum bottle and fill it with water, set it in the top pan for extra weight.  Yes, you could have used something else but I thought you'd appreciate a valid reason to drink more rum.  You're welcome.

Let the whole mess cool down completely. Take the rum bottle and weighing pan off the cake and turn the cake out onto a serving plate. (Cool trick: Lay the plate upside down on top of the cake pan and then just turn the whole mess over at once, and remove the pan. Viola. Cake on plate. And ye didn't even have to be sober to do it.)  The soaking sauce has now become one with the cake.

Slice, share with your crew, and enjoy!   Perhaps with a mug of rum.