For the cake there are two options. -- You can substitute some or all of your liquid for Rum. OR-- you can bake a regular cake and do the poke method where you poke holes in the cake and baste it with rum. If you do the second method you want it to have time to settle into the cake before serving. As for the ganache, I have been able to add liquers into the cream while I am heating it just adjust the amount of cream for the amount of liquer being added.
Well the darker the rum the more flavor will be in the cake. The white rums tend to be mellower and can be lost in a chocolate cake.
If you have time you may want to try a test cake to see if it is what your client is thinking of.
I would go with basting the cake with a little rum. While I've had a lot of success with baking with liquors, the cooking process does mellow the flavor and you get more "bang" for your buck with adding the booze after the cake is baked.
Additionally, basting it will add some moisture to the cake.
With ganache, just make sure that you're adding enough cream, otherwise the liquor can make the chocolate freeze. Oops.
If you don't have a bottle of dark rum , you can always get the "shot" size - one of those ought to be enough to both lightly baste the cake and add to the ganache. You don't need to use the best, most expensive rum...but you dont' want to use rotgut either. It would probably be good with Bacardi Gold or Captain Morgan, or you can go really dark and pick up Myers or Goslings.
I put the moistening syrup in a spray bottle, and spray the cake. The other option is to brush it on the cake. Either method should work fine. I tried baking the alcohol into the cake, and as HerBudoir said, it mellowed the flavor. Not only that, it mellowed the chocolate flavor as well.
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