But why is the rum gone?

Rum, glorious rum. Without question one of the greatest liquors there is (ties with bourbon). Aside from it's more obvious properties, rum is fantastic in desserts. You can use it to light shit on fire (also known in fancy terms as "flambé" which means flamed en Francais) and also to flavor things. Rum is ridiculously versatile in this way: it works well paired with fruit, chocolate or even aromatics. In this case, I'm talking about the already demonic combination of chocolate and mint. Girl Scouts came close with Thin Mints but this cake one-ups those cookies in a big way with the badass addition of, you guessed it, rum. This recipe is sort of time consuming in that you have to make one batter but tint it two different colors, one with cocoa powder and one with green food coloring. This isn't really such a big deal but it does mean you have to wash an extra bowl. Or you can get your house elf to do it. This recipe comes from that previously mentioned, ultra-bomb cookbook All Cakes Considered, and I changed it a tiny bit by adding more peppermint extract and cocoa powder for a higher intensity of flavor. Feel free to add more rum as well, but not so much that the flavor becomes overpowering. Also resist the urge to dump in tons of food coloring. No one wants to eat a cake that's Grinch-colored.

Ingredients:
12-cup Bundt pan or 10-inch tube pan
Extra mixing bowl

2 c. sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 sticks (1 c.) butter at room temperature
4 large eggs
3 1/2 c. sifted cake flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
2 1/2 tsp. peppermint flavoring or extract
1/2 tsp. green food coloring
2 tsp. rum

1. Center a rack and preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare the pan.
2. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the sugar and all of the cocoa. Set aside.
3. Cream the butter and the sugar at medium speed, gradually adding the remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. In a separate bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together.
5. With the mixer on low, add 1 cup of the flour mixture, beat, then add 1/3 cup of the milk and beat again. Repeat until all of the flour mixture and milk are blended into batter. Beat on medium-high speed for 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Pour half of the batter into a clean medium bowl. Add the peppermint flavoring and the food coloring to one bowl of batter, mix well.
7. Pour two-thirds of the now green batter into the bottom of the cake pan. Set aside the remaining green batter.
8. Add the cocoa and sugar mixture to the yellow batter and add the rum. Beat until smooth.
9. Using your spatula, pour the chocolate flavored batter over the green batter in the cake pan.
10. Layer the remaining third of the green batter over the chocolate batter, then marble.
11. Bake for 1 hour. When the cake tests done, cool for 15-30 minutes in the pan before unmolding onto a cake rack.

On marbling:
Take a small spatula and cut through the middle of the batter ring to the bottom of the pan. Bring the spatula toward you and then up toward the side of the pan. Rotate the cake pan with your other hand and repeat. Do 2 rotations total, no more.