Enjoying our very own Guyanese Black Cake this Christmas

By Raywattie Deonarine

Around this time of the year in Guyana, black cake is famous for its uniquely dense texture, dark colour, and rich and robust taste. Those are the things that take the cake. This beloved, rum-soaked fruit cake is highly revered and sought after during Christmas time, as well as at weddings and celebrations. If you’ve never had this cake, at first glance, it may resemble that of a chocolate cake, but the deep, dark colour comes from the main ingredient – dried macerated fruits. Prunes, currants, raisins, and glazed cherries are chopped finely, then soaked in red wine and dark rum for months and years on end.
The fruit mixture is added to the cake batter, along with aromatic flavourings and warm spices. When my mom is baking, our home is fragranced with the cake’s citrusy notes. It smells like Christmas is in the air.
Growing up, I remember having black cake at weddings and Christmas time. The black cake made for weddings always had a layer of almond paste and Royal icing on top, then adorned with little silver sugar beads. I especially loved the piece of black cake that was right under the almond paste. Mmm! Yummy! Whenever my mom baked it during Christmas time, she never iced it. Nowadays, I think people make it the way they like.

Recipe
Texture is the attention when discussing black cake. Recipes and techniques for black cake vary according to country and personal preference. Personally, a pudding-like texture is what most persons prefer. It’s smooth, and just melts into your mouth. Mmm, yummy, yummy. I am sure that most persons reading this feature would definitely not miss this tempting black cake recipe.
Black cake is one of those cakes for which no one wants to tell you their secret recipe; and if they do, they don’t tell you all the other crucial steps, like how important a low baking temperature is, or how to make the burnt sugar to colour the cake.
Mom and I, when looking at countless videos, discovered so many tips, over the years, from people who were willing to share their magical steps and ingredients. When I told her that I wanted to share the black cake recipe this year in the Guyana Times, she said, “Gyal, yuh give way all meh recipe dem.” I laughed so hard, but she was happy to contribute the way they like.

Fruit Mixture
We use a mixture of prunes, currants, raisins, and chopped coloured cherries. My mother usually uses a blender to perfectly mix her cake ingredients together. Her power blender has the grinding method to get the fruits to a smooth paste texture, and it gets it done quickly.
We grind our fruits, then soak with wine and rum, a special type of rum which in Guyana we call “bush rum”. An alternative method is to soak the fruits whole, and grind when ready to bake the cake.
If you did not soak fruits months ahead, you can also simmer the fruits in wine for about 20 minutes. Let it cool, then macerate and combine with rum.

Know your oven
Black cake is not a crumb-type cake; it more resembles a pudding, so a high temperature is not needed to cook the cake. Some people bake this cake in a bain marie (water bath) to steam the cake. Mommy has not tried this method, though we’ve baked this cake anywhere between 275 and 300 degrees. My mom’s oven heats very quickly, and can even overheat.

Make the colouring for the cake
This step can be very tricky. It is easy to burn the sugar to the point where it is bitter. My mom’s recipe recommends that one should keep on practising this step until one gets it right; or if you are not as comfortable, store-bought burnt sugar would work just fine. Let the sugar cool before adding it to the cake.
After creaming the butter and sugar, add eggs then fruit mixture. Once fruit is combined, add flour. The batter would lighten in colour again after adding flour. After adding flour, add burnt sugar to the cake. Add as much as you like, until desired colour is achieved. I like to bake my cake in parchment paper. It works very well in keeping in the liquid when having to pour rum over the cake. Bake cake anywhere between 275 and 300 degrees for 90 minutes. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, pour the cherry brandy + dark rum mixture on top. Brush to distribute.

How we like our black cake:
• It must have a pudding-like texture; not be stiff, rubbery, or dry.

• It must have just enough rum; not be overpowering, where you can’t enjoy the cake.

• The cake must be baked at least 3 days ahead, so it has time to dry for best flavour and texture

• It must have a good height; we want a piece of cake, not a sliver

• Royal icing for weddings and birthday parties; no icing for our black cake baked at Christmas

TIPS:

• Eggs and butter must be room temperature to help with even mixing.

• 8inch pan is the perfect size for me. The batter would fill 3 tins. Nine-inch pans may be used, but make sure to adjust baking time. Bigger the pan, the less time needed to bake.

• I like to line pans with parchment paper. It keeps the bottom of the cake moist, and also ensures the cake absorbs all the alcohol mixture when poured on top.

• When grinding fruits, make sure it is not lumpy. It should resemble a paste texture.

• If using store-bought browning/burnt sugar, make sure to taste it first to ensure it is not salty.

• You will have macerated fruit mixture remaining. This recipe calls for only 3 cups of the mixture, and makes two cakes.

• You will use up most, not all, of the port wine when macerating/soaking the fruit.

• If you are not comfortable making your own burnt sugar, practise a few times. It can burn very quickly, so as soon as it gets very dark brown, remove from heat and add wine. Taste when cool to make sure it is not bitter. If too bitter, it will ruin the taste of the cake! Here is a great video on how to make your own burnt sugar

• After brushing cake with rum/brandy mixture, let it cool a few minutes, then cover cake with plastic wrap. Make sure plastic wrap touches cake. This helps to seal in the moisture. Leave plastic wrap on cake, and once ever few days, add more rum/brandy mixture.

Ingredients
Macerated fruit mixture
• 1 lb prunes, pitted
• 1 lb currants
• 1 lb raisins
• 8oz red glazed cherries
• 4oz mixed peel
Soaking
• 750mL bottle port wine (or another dark red wine)
• 3-4 cups white or dark rum
• Keep one extra small bottle rum on hand
Browning
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 tbsp port wine
Cake batter
• 1 lb unsalted butter, softened (4 sticks)
• 1 lb sugar, demerara brown or white granulated (2 cups)
• 12 eggs
• Zest of one lemon
• Zest of one orange
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 tsp mixed essence
• 1½ lbs macerated fruit mixture (about 3 heaped cups)
• 300g all-purpose flour (2 ½ level cups)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground all spice
• ¼ tsp ground clove
Alcohol mixture to pour on top
• ¼ cup dark rum
• ¼ cup cherry brandy
Instructions
Fruit mixture
1. Wash and dry all fruits. Mix together in a large bowl. Place fruits a little at a time in a food processor, food mill, or ninja blender. Add enough wine to grind
2. fruits to a paste. Repeat process until fruits have been macerated. Fruit mixture should not be too watery. Add 3-4 cups dark rum. Stir and let mixture soak at minimum one week or even one year+. Adding more wine or rum periodically.
3. Make browning
1. If using store-bought burnt sugar, skip this step. Place sugar in a small saucepan. On low heat, turn sugar with a spoon until it begins to caramelise. Once dark brown, add wine and remove from heat. Let cool completely.
Make batter
2. Preheat oven to 275 or 300 degrees F.
3. Line three 8in or two 9in baking pans with parchment paper. Trim paper and set aside.
4. Bring eggs and butter to room temperature.
5. Crack eggs into a separate bowl one at a time, Remove little white membrane from each egg (optional). Beat in zests, vanilla, almond, and mixed essence. Set aside.
6. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Set aside.
7. In deep mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale. Add eggs a little at a time. Blend well.
8. Of the macerated fruit mixture, add 1 ½ lbs (3 heaped cups) a little at a time. Continue blending.
9. Add flour mixture a little at a time. Fold in with a spatula. Add 1 tbsp burnt sugar at a time until desired colour is achieved. If using store-bought burnt sugar, 4 tbsp should suffice for a very dark cake. Mix well.
10. Pour batter into lined cake pans.
11. Bake anywhere from 275-300 degrees F for 80-90 minutes. When cake comes out of oven, pour alcohol mixture on top. When cool, cover cake with plastic wrap. Flavour is best after a few days.
NOTE
1lb fruit mixture is traditionally used. You can try this recipe with these changes to see if it meets your preference. If you did not soak fruits months ahead, you can also simmer the fruits in wine for about 20 minutes. Let it cool, then macerate and combine with rum.
Batter may be split in 3 smaller cake pans.
After removing cake from oven, it may seem to be undercooked. Do not be alarmed, as this is how it is supposed to be. After 2-3 days, the texture will change.