Rum Cake

Copyright 2013 LtDan'sKitchen blogs

This cake is something that I have been baking for quite some time although not really the actual cake. I use the cake recipe as the base of my Black Forest Cake until I decided to change it using Dave Liebermann's simple chocolate cake recipe. I have been wanting to bake the actual cake the way it was written in my old cookbook but unfortunately, it has disappeared along with some of my old trusted cookbooks. However, I do remember enough about the cake to know that it gets soaked with a rum syrup and the frosting is made of whipped cream and finished off with chocolate curls. I'm glad that I saved the actual cake recipe but to make the rum syrup, I am using a basic syrup recipe and flavoring it with white rum. I decided to jazz it up a bit with the chocolate decorations since I have both dark and white chocolate bars in my pantry. The giraffe pattern is inspired by a cake in one of my cookbooks. The chocolate curls are a bit messy but working with chocolates in a tropical country in the middle of summer with no air conditioning around tends to be a bit of a challenge. I usually bake at night but I just did not have the time to do so for this cake. It tasted plenty yummy to make up for the not so clean decorations. This is an adapted recipe for sure but since I cannot give credit to the actual authors at this point, it will have to stay uncredited.  

Rum Cake - Adapted*

Cake:
1 ½ cups flour
10 tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ cup sugar
4 eggs separated
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
½ tsp vanilla

1. Sift all solid ingredients and add the sugar. Mix well and make a well in 
    the center.

2. Combine egg yolks, oil, milk and vanilla. Mix well with wire a whisk. Add 
    into the flour mixture.

3. Beat the egg whites until stiff peak forms. Fold into the batter.

4. Divide the batter into two 9-inch greased round pans lined with wax paper.

5. Bake at 350°F in a preheated oven for about 30-45 minutes or until cake
    tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a wire 
    rack and peel off the wax paper. Cool completely.

Frosting:
3  cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp gelatin softened in 1/4 cup hot water. 

In a large metal bowl, add the softened gelatin to the cream and whip until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and the vanilla extract and continue to beat until stiff peaks are formed. Do not overbeat. Keep cool and set aside.  

Rum Syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
2 tbsp white rum

In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and the water over medium low heat until the sugar dissolves. Continue to cook for 5 minutes and take off the heat. Add the rum and allow to cool.

To assemble, arrange one of the cakes on a cake platter and poke with a toothpick to create holes for the syrup to penetrate the cake. Spoon half the syrup over it to soak the cake. Spread with enough cream frosting and top with the second layer. Soak with the remaining syrup and cover the cake with the remaining cream frosting. Garnish with chocolate curls and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Arrange white and dark chocolate curls on top of the cake and store in the fridge until ready to serve. 

* Good Housekeeping