no not a cachar 
Black Cake is a staple at Christmas in Guyana and many countries in the Caribbean. This is also always served at a Guyanese wedding, always. It’s a dense cake that’s made of dried fruits, nuts and rum. This cake is soaked in rum weekly and will keep for up to a month, as long as you keep adding alcohol. This will not only preserve the cake, but also keep it moist.
My mom make a mean Black Cake and have been doing so for as long as I can remember. She’s bringing a pan from New York City all the way to Atlanta for me! I can hardly wait for her to get her tomorrow morning.
As I leave you, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous New Year. Enjoy!
Guyanese Black Cake
For the Fruits you will need:
3/4 lb raisins
3/4 lb currants
3/4 lb prunes
1/4 lb candied cherries
1/4 lb mix citrus peel
1/4 lb almond or peanuts (optional)
rum or port wine
Wash and grind all ingredients. This can done with a food mill or food processor. Mix in about 2 cups of rum or port wine and allow to sit for at least 2 weeks. Store in an airtight container.
1 lb or 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 lb or 4 sticks unsalted butter
1 lb of fruit mixture
2 cups brown sugar
10 eggs
*caramel or cake coloring
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp mace
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp almond essence
1 bottle of Dark Rum
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Grease and line two 9 inch baking pans with parchment paper; set aside. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, mace and cloves; set aside.
Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and mix until fluffy and light in color. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition to make sure egg is incorporated. Please don’t rush this step, adding the eggs too soon or too many at one time can cause the mixture to curdle or separate.
Add vanilla extract and almond extract to mixture, mix until incorporated.
Add 1 pound of the fruit mix to wet ingredients and mix well.
Add flour to wet ingredients, mix until smooth. Add caramel to achieve desired color. Divide equally between the 2 pans.
Bake for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, test by sticking a toothpick in the center, cake is done if toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and pour about 1 cup of rum on each pan of cake. When the cake absorbs the rum, add more rum two more times. Add rum weekly. Enjoy!
*To make your own caramel, add about 1/2 cup of sugar to a pan over medium heat. Sugar will melt and darken, cook until a deep dark color but not burnt.
