Jamaican chocolate cake

1 1/2 c  Self-rising flour
  1 1/2 t  baking powder
      1 t  Mixed Spice
    3/4 c  margarine, softened
    3/4 c  Superfine sugar
      3    Eggs
      2 T  Unsweetened cocoa powder
      2 T  Hot water
    1/2 c  Granulated sugar
    2/3 c  Water
      2    Cinnamon sticks (2")
    1/4 c  Dark rum
      2 T  Slivered almonds
      6 oz Semisweet chocolate, broken
           -in pieces
           Whipped cream
 
  Preheat oven to 325'F. (165'C.). Generously grease a 5-cup fluted or plain
  tube pan and dust lightly with flour. Sift flour, baking powder and Mixed
  Spice into a bowl. Add margarine, superfine sugar and eggs. Blend cocoa
  powder with hot water and add to flour mixture. Beat well with a wooden
  spoon 2 minutes or 1 minute if using an electric mixer. Turn mixture into
  prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven 1-1/4 hours or until well risen and
  cake begins to shrink from edges of pan. Carefully turn out cake onto a
  wire rack and cool.
  
  Combine granulated sugar and 2/3 cup water in a saucepan. Add cinnamon and
  heat gently, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat,
  add rum and discard cinnamon. Place cake on a plate. Spoon syrup over cake
  and let stand 2 hours. Stud top of cake with almonds. Melt chocolate;
  carefully spooon over cake, spreading to give a smooth even coating. Let
  stand several hours. Pipe (with a pastry bag) whipped cream around bottom
  of cake.