Storied Chocolate-Gran Mariner Cake

My husband has been talking about wanting a rum cake made by a colleague of his for awhile now.   A) I am only recently a baker B) the guy who makes said rum cake is using one of those kick-ass passed down several generations family secret type recipe C) Even if I *had* his recipe to follow I suck at following recipes and somehow it would be 'wrong' and not the rum cake that is being looked for sooooooo.....

Thought about what I could possibly do to change the flavors in a rum cake for days.  Read a ton of recipes for it while thinking.  Had citrus on the brain but wasn't sure which direction to go from there.  Wandered through the liquor store thinking about buying some rum to play with and spotted a bottle of Gran Mariner. Light blub!  Snagged it. Came home thinking I would so some lemon/lime based cake and soak it in the Gran Mariner, but thought about it some more and decided that was too simple and that lemon cake was already its own thing and that if I wanted to booze that up I should of gotten Limonchello.  Contemplated going back to buy Limonchello instead but realized booze is not cheap and sat on the idea some more.

Read a few more rum cake recipes. Read the wiki article about it.  Hm.. it is a holiday cake traditionally.... Somehow that made me think of those chocolate oranges that fall apart when you smack them on the counter and I had my idea. 

Idea in head, went back to reading tons of recipes for rum cakes.  Noticed a lot of them included pudding mix, and that more then a few had ground walnuts.  Went and read some pound cake recipes for good measure since I already know I can make a stable pound cake and I wanted some known grown to work from.   

Which is how I came up with this recipe for Chocolate-Gran Mariner Cake.  Just in case you were wondering where/how I get some of this random stuff from.

3 sticks room temperature butter
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 room temperature eggs
Zest of 1 orange
8 oz almond paste
1 box (4ish oz) chocolate pudding mix
1 cup unsweetened coco powder
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups flour
splash Gran Mariner
pinch each baking soda and salt

Preheat oven to 350.  Using a mixer, beat butter and sugars until fluffy.  Continue beating and add eggs,  one at a time.  When eggs are fully incorporated, add almond paste, orange zest, Gran Mariner, baking soda, and salt.  Once those are all mixed in, add the pudding mix, the milk, and then the coco powder.  Incorporate the flour last, so that you are not beating it too much once you have gotten that into the batter.  Pour batter into 9x12ihs baking pan and bake for 40 mins or until a toothpick put in the center comes out clean.  (You can use a bunt pan if you want to make it the same shape as a traditional rum cake, that will take longer to bake since the cake will have less surface area.) 

While the cake is baking,  make the soaking syrup:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
zest of 1 orange
1 cup Gran Mariner
splash of rum as a nod to the original cake

Cook water and sugar until the sugar starts to caramelize and remove from heat.  Add orange zest, Gran Mariner, and rum and swirl to stir.  Be careful working with this in case the hot sugar decides to spit at you.

Use a pastry brush to brush the top of the still warm cake with the soaking syrup.  Let sit at least 8 hours, if not 24, brushing with more of the remaining syrup if the cake looks dry.  Serve to grownups and hide their car keys.