Chocolate Rum n Raisin Cake

This Chocolate Rum ‘n’ Raisin cake was made specifically to fill the seasonal gap between the lighter Chocolate sponge cake eaten in the Summer months and the heavier Fruit Cake eaten in the Winter months. It is filling, but not stodgey, moist, but not cloying, it really does fit in this seasonal gap betwixt and between late summer and full blown winter. This delicious chocolate cake, with the classic combinations of quality dark chocolate, rum and raisin can be eaten cold by the slice, or put in a bowl, heated, and served with vanilla custard or single cream. The rum also helps preserve the cake, without it dominating the taste, so it can be made up a day or so in advance.

Chocolate Rum ‘n’ Raisin Cake Recipe

Tip: if you have time soak the raisins in the rum overnight.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 500g dark chocolate, good quality (above 70%)
• 300g raisins
• 150ml dark rum
• 250g unsalted butter
• 350g plain flour (sifted)
• 150g caster sugar
• 4 eggs (beaten)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder

Recipe Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C / gas mark 5. Prepare the cake tin, lightly grease with butter.

Finely chop all the chocolate (500g) into small pieces. Weigh out 300g and reserve. Place a large mixing bowl over a gently steaming saucepan of water and melt the remaining 200g of chocolate with the butter, stirring occasionally to get a smooth emulsion (85C is the ideal constant temperature for this).

Once fully melted, and the chocolate has blended with the butter, place the mixing bowl on a tea-towel on your work surface to cool. Leave this for five minutes. Beat the eggs well, until they are light and frothy.

After 5 minutes we can now mix in all the other ingredients, one at a time, stirring them in, in this order. Caster sugar, vegetable oil, salt, vanilla essence, baking powder, beaten eggs, rum, raisins, sifted flour, the rest of the 500g of chocolate pieces. Pour this mixture into the prepared cake tin.

Place the cake tin in the oven and bake for 40 – 50 minutes at 180C. Check after 30 minutes to see if it is cooking evenly on its edges – if not just spin it around. What we are looking for is the edges of the cake to be firm, whilst the middle should be soft. Use a metal skewer to test to see if the cake is cooked in the middle, it should come out clean and hot. Tip: don’t over bake this cake, as it will continue to bake after being removed from the oven, and it needs to remain moist.

After the cake has baked remove the from the oven and allow to cool for twenty minutes, then remove the cake from the tin. The cake can be stored in an air-tight box for a couple of days wrapped in grease-proof paper. Cut into slices to serve – can be eaten cold or warmed up and served with some vanilla custard or single cream. Either way this is a delicious treat, just right for the October and November Months.