Mmmmmmmm Cake!

Do you ever find yourself reading a great book, and then suddenly the author talks just a little too fondly, a little too vividly, about food? I'm reading "South of Broad," by Pat Conroy, a fantastic book!

And in the first pages, he talks about making a recipe from a Junior League Cookbook for the neighbors. Well, I have a couple of Junior League cookbooks (which I don't understand; I mean, who exactly IS the Junior League?) and the mentioned recipe was not in either book.

But I perused the recipes anyway, and oh, my! This one called my name:





It doesn't look like much, and is deceptively easy to make. It's the Chocolate Cake with Rum Butter Sauce from the Junior League Centennial Book. Except instead of using rum, I used amaretto, and reduced the brown sugar. And tonight, when we have more, I'm adding some delicious dried cherries that I happen to have.





2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 stick butter
2 eggs
1 c granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c flour

Rum Butter Sauce
1 c heavy cream
3/4 c packed light brown sugar (I reduced the amount to about 1/2 c)
1 stick butter
3 T dark rum (I used amaretto)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Butter 9" springform pain.

For cake: Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler. Cool to room temperature. Beat eggs 3 to 4 min. Gradually beat in sugar about 5 minutes. Beat in vnailla, salt and cooled chocolate mixture. On low speed, blend in flour. Pour into pan. Bake 30 to 35 min. Cool on wire rack in pan.

Sauce: combine cream, sugar and butter in saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently until it boils. Boil 5 min, stirring occasionally. Remove form heat. Stir in rum and vanilla.

To serve: spoon a moderate (lots) amount of warm sauce on a rimmed dessert plate. Top with wedge of cake. Consider cherries, whipped cream, or spoonful of vanilla ice cream. Eat and lick dish.