Guyanese black cake

Step 1: Blend or mince 9 oz pitted prunes, 9 oz raisins, 7 oz currants, 3 ½ oz glacé cherries and 1 ¾ oz mixed peel to a coarse paste. Mix with 1 ¾ cups dark rum and cherry brandy, or red grape juice in a jar and soak for at least 3 days, or up to months in the fridge (grape-juice fruit: 2 days max, in the fridge).

Step 2: For the burnt sugar, heat 5 ½ oz sugar in a heavy pan over a medium heat without stirring. Let it melt, then cook until it goes past amber to almost black and smokes lightly, about 8–10 minutes. Take off the heat and very carefully pour in ¼ cup boiling water; it will spit fiercely. Stir to a thin, dark syrup and cool.

Step 3: Heat the oven to 300°F (275°F fan). Line a 23 cm round deep cake tin with two layers of baking paper.

Step 4: Beat 9 oz butter and 7 oz dark brown sugar for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in 5 eggs one at a time, then 2 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tsp lime zest.

Step 5: Sift 9 oz plain flour, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, 2 tsp mixed spice and ½ tsp ground nutmeg and fold in. Then fold in the soaked fruit with its liquid and enough burnt-sugar syrup to turn the batter very dark brown, nearly black (usually all of it).

Step 6: Spoon into the tin, level the top and bake for 2–2½ hours until a skewer comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Common mistake: a hot oven; the outside burns before the dense middle cooks. Cover the top with foil if it darkens too fast after 90 minutes.

Step 7: While still warm, prick the top all over and brush with ¼ cup dark rum or grape juice. Cool in the tin, wrap well and keep for a few days before cutting; it slices best on day three.