Fin!

Today is the Day!

So I just came back from the grocery store. I had to pick up some ingredients that we didn't have a home:

• 2 pounds of granulated light brown sugar
• 2 pounds of salted sweet cream butter
• Mommy's secret ingredients (contains tree nuts)
• Some Grade A large eggs

Right now, the butter is sitting in our morning room so the sun can soften it. When that is softened, I'm going to mix it in with the butter. I have to keep mixing it until I cannot fell the sugar granules. I will keep updating this post as a I go.

One More Week!

My mom and I have decided to make the black cake on April 20th. It's close enough to the presentation date so that the cake can be fresh, yet long so that the cake can sit for a few days.

I'm still trying to get the recipe from my mom. She is super busy. I'm still waiting. When she tells me, I will edit this post to write down the recipe.

Jamaican Black Cake

• 2 pounds of granulated light brown sugar (cane sugar)
• 2 pounds of salted sweet cream butter, softened
• 15 eggs
• 2 cups of all purpose flour (NOT SELF RISING)
• Mommy's secret ingredients
• molasses
• grated fruit mixture

Just a Little Prep. (Fermentation Prep!)

In the black cake recipe, it calls for a fermented fruit mixture. This fruit mixture composed of chopped raisins, red and green cherries, currants, dates and orange peel. It is then soaked in Jamaican Red Label Wine and Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum. It should ferment a just a little more. We have been keeping this mixture in an airtight container since Christmas. Some people actually have their mixture soaking for years!

The Red Label Wine is the main ingredient that gives black cake its unique, distinctive flavor. It is used for soaking the fruit and for topping the cake at the end. We are going to make the cake a few days before serving to allow the wine to be soaked into the cake and change and enhance flavors. It makes a big difference when you don't have the wine poured on top. I will be sure to bring in that kind along with with the regular kind for taste testing!

"Is that a Brownie?"

Let me preface this post by saying that Jamaican Black Cake (I will abbreviate it as BC) is not a brownie. It may look like one, but it is not. When I went to my cousin's wedding back in 2010, BC was served at the reception. I must point out that his wife is Greek, so you can imagine the confusion about the dessert from her side of the family at the wedding. One exchange between a girl and a guy went like this:

Girl: "What is this thing?"
Guy: "I think it's a brownie."
Girl: "It doesn't really look like one though. You try it!"
Guy: "No!"

Many giggles were had.

Anyways, what is dessert? Why did I choose it? I won't delve into the former question. But to answer the latter question, I chose it because it just felt right. I love my culture (especially the food), and I just felt that choosing BC was the best thing. My mom actually made some a couple months ago, so I will ask her to help me make it. I'm so excited! I'm going to try to bring it into my class so everyone can try it. Maybe I'll also bring some sorrel, but we will see because it has been preserved with some rum. ;)