ALTHOUGH cake is a dessert known the world over, the famous black cake prepared in Guyana and the Caribbean is in a class by itself. Ritualistic by nature, most persons opt to prepare the black cake at Christmas. We start by ‘setting’ the fruits, meaning blending or chopping them, then soaking same in alcoholic concoctions so that they can absorb the flavours of the admixtures.
Baking the perfect black cake is an art form that requires a perfect balance between texture, flavour and colour, and both amateur and professional bakers undertake this enterprise with deadly seriousness. Skilled bakers ‘soak’ the fruit being put into their black cake for months in advance, weighing and measuring each ingredient as carefully as if for a science experiment.
Everyone who has had any experience in black cake baking considers themselves a good black cake maker, and were that subject to be broached in a circle of bakers, one would hear the boastings as everyone tries to prove themselves the “black cake expert”.
With the range of mixers and food processors on the market, baking the black cake is now as easy as it would ever be, but many of us at some point in our lives have assisted our mothers or other ‘black cake maker’ in stirring a huge tub of black cake batter with a large spoon. It was boring work then, but, to a ten-year-old, the good part was scraping up the small amounts of batter remaining in the container, and licking the spoon.
Nowadays, persons make this cake not only as part of the Christmas tradition, but also for weddings, christenings, and other significant occasions.
According to a popular food columnist, what makes it “our” black cake is defined by the rum used. She explains that a black cake is Barbadian black cake because it is made with Barbadian rum; or Jamaican black cake because it is made with Jamaican rum; and so on.
Some people believe that, like certain dishes, black cake tastes better when ‘cured’, and so they do their Christmas baking several weeks in advance. Others believe that there is no such thing as too much rum in a black cake, and so soak the freshly-baked black cake in rum.
One classmate had black cake year round. She could bring black cake for the class in September or October, since her mom stored the black cake locked down in barrels with rum. Her black cake was, of course, dangerously soaked, and we were probably breaking the law by consuming it at our age.
For persons who have never ‘tried their hand’ at baking this delightful dessert, here is a recipe to help you create your own black cake memories this Christmas.

Good ol’ Guyanese Black Cake
Ingredients:
* ¼ lb cherries
* 1 lb local dried fruits
* ½ pound raisins
* 3 cups rum
* 1½ lbs brown sugar
* ½ teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon spice
* 1 lb flour
* 12 eggs
* 4 ozs orange or lemon peel
* 1 lb butter

To prepare:
* Grind dried fruits and soak in 3 cups of rum. Store in an airtight container for three weeks.
* Prepare the caramel by heating 1 lb of the sugar until it turns dark brown, stirring at intervals.
* Cream the butter and remaining sugar. Add the eggs, soaked fruits, and rum. When well blended, pour the caramel.
* Add the flour with the baking powder and mixed spice.
* Fold in the cherries.
* Pour mixture into a baking pan and bake in a slow oven (about 300 degrees F.) for two hours. Remove cake from pan when cool.
Eat and enjoy.