Recipe - Double-Chocolate Rum Cake

1 pack Chocolate cakemix (18 1/2oz)
1 pack Instant chocolate pudding
4 Eggs
1 cup Dark rum
Three fourths cup Water plus 1 teaspoon
One half cup Vegetable oil
1 pack Chocolate chips
1 Jar Raspberry prserves 10 o
2 tablespoon Shortening
1 ounce Vanilla baking bar

My Grandmother's recipe calls for greasing a 10 in tube pan. I use a 12cup
bundt pan with excellent results. 1.Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs,
One half cup of the rum, Three fourths cup of the water and the oil in a large mixing bowl.
Beat at low speed until ingrediants are moistened. Then two minutes at
medium speed. Stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips. Pout batter into
prepared pan. Bake 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from
pan, finish cooling on a wire rack. 2.In a small saucepan, heat preserves
and remaining One half cup rum to make glaze. Strain through sieve to remove
seeds. Place cake on serving plate. Prick the surface of the cake with a
fork, or a tooth pick. (I use this time to vent frustations) Brush the
raspberry glaze evenly over the cake. Use all the glaze. It does take a few
minutes to do this. Just make sure its evenly applied. 3.In a bowl, combine
remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips and shortening. Microwave on high 1
minute. (I know, my Grandma never had a Microwave, I just updated the
recipe, because in this case the technology makes this process painless and
quick, and I'm less likely to burn the chocolate.) Stir to make a smooth
icing. Drizzle chocolate icing over the cake. Let stand about 15 minutes.
4.In a small bowl, combine vanilla baking bar and remaining 1 teaspoon of
water. Microwave on high 30 seconds (or until melted). Drizzle vanilla
icing over the chocolate icing. Grandma always served this tasty morsel
with very strong coffee.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini