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.

A Pirate Recipe Collection

Armada's drunken fearless leader, Commander Jervil, somehow found this bit of treasure!

Pirate Recipes from Gone-Ta-Pott.com

If you are brave enough to try any of the recipes, please reply to this and reassure us that you are still alive and well.

YUM.

Slow And Steady Wins The (Soup) Pot!

And now it's time for our very first recipe! But first, a word of explanation.  In case you're wondering what makes Sea-Fare different than all those other recipe sites, allow me to explain by means of bullet points. Mostly because Armadans *love* bullets. And bombs. And knives. I suspect they use all of those in food preparation on a daily basis.

• These are seafood recipes. The ingredients may come from the oceans you've heard of in that land of real-life, or perhaps we will harvest ingredients from Armada's own waters, or the Vernian Sea, or even the Blake Sea. 
• These recipes may or may not be easily reproducable in your own kitchen. I'm sure you could find a lobster if needed - but Air Kraken may not be as plentiful in, oh, say, Nebraska.  Set your expectations accordingly.  
• These are recipes gained by Adventure.  Each one will contain the story of how it came to be here.

And that's enough bullet points!  Let's leave a few rounds in the chamber in case a nice salmon swims by. And on with our first Adventure and Recipe!  Yesterday, Armada Breakaway took part in the annual "Europa Wulfenbach Games Day" events. Here is the official description, taken from the full schedule: 

5:30pm-6:30pm: Regatta in Armada Breakaway

This summer's regatta will be held at Armada Breakaway; and it the fine tradition of Armadans, the race will be done on turtle-shape boats! The boats will be provided at the start of the race. Come show us your navigating skill, or cheer on the participants!

Now, what that description failed to mention was that we laced the race course with giant swinging axes,  bombs, and big spiky pointy... things, that moved in and out of the racing lane. You know... like you do. Well, like you do if you're of a pirate mind and live in Armada Breakaway. A fine time was had by all. 

Well, all the but the turtles. As it turned out, those spiky pointy things proved to be the most terrifying obstacle in the race, and many turtles met their end on the tip of a metal point. Very sad for them, but a positive boon for Armada.  A floating city learns to never waste anything, as you never know when the next supply run will be possible.  We disabled the pointy things, and gathered up all that turtle meat. There was quite a bit!  A huge pot was set up near the Welcome Center, and by nightfall there was soup for everyone!  

Life is good in Armada Breakaway.

  
Après Race Turtle Soup
(A Real Recipe You Can Cook)

1-1/3 pounds turtle meat
4-1/2 cups water
2 medium onions
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
5 tablespoons butter, cubed
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons tomato puree
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice
Chopped fresh parsley, optional

In a large heavy saucepan, bring the turtle meat and water to a boil. Skim off the foam.  Cut one onion into quarters and dump in the pot. Throw in the bay leaf, cayenne pepper and the salt. Cover, simmer for two hours or until the meat is nicely tender.  Remove the meat and dice into half inch cubes. Set the meat aside for now. Strain the broth, keeping just the liquid, and set it aside too.

Rinse out your saucepan and melt the butter in it. Chop up the other onion and throw in to cook in the butter until tender.  Stir in the flour, let it cook until it's just turning brown.  Put the broth that you saved back in and whisk briskly to blend all the elements.  Lower the heat, add the tomato puree and worcestershire sauce.  Simmer without a lid for ten minutes.

Add the chicken broth, eggs, lemon juice and the meat.  Simmer just five minutes to heat, and serve!  The parsley is for garnishing each bowl. This recipe should produce four to six bowls of soup.

Find your own adventure
 in Armada Breakaway in Second Life!