Black cake adds intrigue to baking

The late Laurie Colwin, novelist and beloved food writer for "Gourmet" magazine, left her legions of fans with a cake recipe so intriguing, it inspires discussion whenever her name is mentioned. In the last essay of "Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen," Colwin wrote, "Black Cake, like truffles and vintage Burgundy, is deep, complicated and intense. It has taste and aftertaste. It demands to be eaten in a slow, meditative way."

So this is a dessert that engages taste buds and brain cells -- a thinking person's cake. In a season marked by mindless gorging, no wonder the allure.

Colwin's introduction to black cake came via her daughter's babysitter from the West Indies, where the cake is typically served for weddings and holidays. Its apt name comes from chopped fruits -- prunes, raisins, currants, cherries, and candied peel -- soaked in dark rum and a sweet wine, along with a burnt sugar essence, a Caribbean staple that adds color and a unique flavor.

Black cake, of course, is really a fruitcake, but call it that and you'll risk losing guests. Better to let them ponder the moist confection's mellow fruitiness, its slightly bitter caramel undertones, the achingly sweet marzipan and fondant icing. Only when they're fully committed should you deliver the punch line.

Fruitcakes remain popular as celebration cakes in locales where the British have held dominion: the West Indies, Canada, Australia, and India. The exception is this country, where fruitcake endures as the butt of holiday jokes.

With a traditional English fruitcake, says Gary Welling, director of the International Baking and Pastry Institute at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, dried fruits and rinds macerate in sherry or Madeira. In the West Indies, local rum is used instead. Colwin was unfailingly honest when presenting her recipe: "I confess that I have not yet baked my Black Cake," she wrote. Indeed, the directions are sketchy, the ingredients aren't fully explained, and results can be disappointing, but through her rhapsodic recall of her first taste, the recipe still compels.

For example, she specifies half a bottle of Passover wine for macerating the fruit, a vague directive for some readers. When food writer Nigella Lawson tackled Colwin's recipe in "How to be a Domestic Goddess," she went with traditional Madeira, as well as a marzipan and rolled fondant icing. And if you attempt Colwin's weight-based recipe -- frustrating for bakers used to volume measurements -- prepare for a copious amount of batter that overflows the pans.

This is not dessert for 30-minute cooks and Sandra Lee fans. Some ingredients are difficult to procure. Burnt sugar essence, for instance, is available at Tropical Foods in Roxbury (617-442-7439) or from kalustyans.com. Molasses makes a fine substitute, although you won't get the pleasingly acrid taste of a true black cake. You'll find marzipan in supermarkets during the holidays, and rolled fondant in the cake decorating departments of Michaels (call 800-642-4235 for locations) and Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts (joann.com). An almond-flavored glaze of confectioners' sugar and milk will do in a pinch.

While Colwin insisted the fruit must macerate for two weeks minimum, a mere half-hour simmer and an overnight rest delivers results worthy of her legacy.