Chocolate Marmalade Spice (or whatever) Cake

Preheat oven to 350 and start some strong coffee; you'll need 1 cup of hot coffee for this recipe, at the end.  Yeah, decaf is fine.  Oh, and you'll need at least one large jar of fruit preserves or marmalade.

Generously grease a bundt pan and dust it with cocoa powder just like you learned in home ec. (if you're old enough to have taken home ec.) to grease and flour the cake pans except use cocoa powder instead.  You can use two layer pans or a 9X13 pan, but it looks really pretty as a bundt cake.  Although sometimes I put slices of fruit in the layer pans and make kind of an upside-down fruity version which is very popular.

Mix together in a big bowl (you can use a mixer, but I just use a big whisk):
1-1/2 cups granulated white sugar (ok to use up to 50% brown plus white)
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 shot of Grand Marnier or another liqueur; whatever works with the fruit preserves you are using)
1/2-3/4 tsp. cinnamon*
1/2 tsp. nutmeg*
1/2-3/4 tsp ground cardamom*
3/4-1 tsp ground ginger*
2 Tbsp. orange marmalade (or any all-fruit preserves)
3/4 to 1 cup very high quality cocoa

Sift together (or just mix up with a fork in a separate bowl):
1-3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

You've got the pan ready & the oven hot & a cup of hot coffee ready, right? OK, you can continue:

Use a rubber spatula for this part. Combine the dry ingredients with the chocolate-y stuff and stir gently just until barely combined. Then pour the hot coffee in all at once and stir - again, just until it's all combined but no more.  It will be way too runny now and you will think you ruined it.  Fear not.

Pour it into the waiting cake pan(s) and gently tap them on the counter to cause any air bubbles to float to the top.  Place on center rack of oven.

Bake until done - around 45 minutes for a bundt pan (but see comments below)**

When it comes out of the oven, let it stand for a little bit before tipping it out onto a plate.  This is where you'll be glad you greased the pan very evenly and generously - or you'll curse the little decorative shapes in the bundt pan.  If it falls apart a little as you're putting it on the plate, just use the marmalade to fasten it back together the best you can.  Trust me, no one will care.

While it's still pretty warm, use a spoon to spread a layer of marmalade over it, being careful to sort of seal the crumbs in as you go.  It will soak into the cake as it cools, so you need to do that again when it's completely cool.

If you're truly decadent and have an air-conditioned kitchen, you can make some of that really dense chocolate icing*** that you sort of pour it on instead of the second application of marmalade & it gets quite firm, like a chocolate bar almost, or a layer of fudge sauce. But don't do that if it's too humid, as it will slide off - plus it kind of crystallizes in humid weather.  Trust me. And really, it's fine with just the marmalade or preserves. It looks like a glaze.

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*Don't worry if you don't have one or another of these spices -- just add a total of no more than about 3 teaspoons of some spices. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and ginger are my favorites, but allspice is good (a little less allspice than ginger or cinnamon as it overpowers things quickly - same with nutmeg) You can toss in some finely minced candied ginger too if you have it, or candied lemon peel/citron if you are someone who keeps that kind of thing around.  I've even added lemon zest left over from something else, and that was good.  And instead of fruit and spices and vanilla, I have added mint extract and covered it with mint jelly (I liked it but it was not so popular -- same with the sambuca/anise variation -- I love chocolate and licorice together, but I'm alone in this, as far as I can tell)

**The time it takes to cook will sort of depend on your oven and the ambient humidity and some other factors I don't really understand. And it's a little tricky to tell precisely when it's done -- the usual tests for doneness don't work on account of this is a really dense, moist cake.  A toothpick will not come out clean, even when it's way overdone, and your fingerprint will not spring right back up when you touch the top gently.  However, it will start to smell really fabulous at about 30-35 minutes (a little less for layer or 9x13 pans), and you can check it frequently starting at about 35-40 minutes.  The top will get some nice deep cracks in it, and the edges will pull away from the sides of the pan.  It's usually done in about 45-50 minutes in a bundt pan.  But sometimes it takes a little longer, sometimes not quite as long.  All I can say is it looks done when it's done - but if you haven't made it before, that's kind of meaningless.

***I think the icing recipe is just to melt some chocolate squares and butter and add confectioner's sugar & milk and beat with electric beaters for a really long time, until you're completely bored and the chocolate is glossy & then add a little vanilla.  It's probably in Joy of Cooking or Fannie Farmer under 'Glossy Chocolate Icing' or something clever like that.