The Well-Travelled Cake

The great thing about going to boarding school is that the friends you make become like family and even though you may not see them too often in later life, running in to them is always a pleasure. The conversation is easy and full of laughter and they have a habit of plying you with gifts of food and drink to take home – just as families often do. Hence, enter the well-travelled cake – a Guyana Black Cake – baked by a former school friend who lives and works in that part of the world and who, inspired by the presence of the Irish contingent at the Cricket World Cup earlier this year, gathered together her ingredients to bake the famous black cake. The cake contains an impressive whack of alcohol and is a little reminiscent of a Christmas pudding. Over the last couple of weeks portions have been shared out with various school friends and has inspired a flurry of emails, meetings, and general bonhomie. It’s over 30 years now since we left school and yet we’re still meeting up from time to time to giggle and share old stories and new gossip. I googled for some recipes and came up with this one  which looks like it might produce a fair representation should you wish to try it! For me and my school friends the Guyana Black Cake becomes another memory and here, in late August, as summer draws to a close we have our marker for 2010 which henceforth will be remembered as the summer of the well-travelled cake.