This thread was started back in 2002, before I was a member. I joined eG in April 2004 and my first post in this thread was in October 2004 on page 2 and I posted a link that is still working to a Black Cake recipe that I had made several times.
It is on RecipeSource, which was originally SOAR (The Searchable Online Archive of Recipes) which I first got into via CompuServe (which charged by the minute) and also BMUG (Berkeley Macintosh Users Group) in the latter half of the 1980s, before the "World Wide Web" came into being.
In 1988 I prepared 2 of these black cakes for a delegation of physicians and surgeons from Jamaica and Grand Cayman hosted by my employer, an orthopedic surgeon in West Hills, CA. The Marriott where they were staying was unable to provide the cakes so my boss gave me 3 $100. bills and asked me to do my best.
I made the "traditional" fluffy white icing and had a friend send me some silver dragees from Las Vegas as they were "illegal" in California.
The attendees were surprised that the cakes were even attempted and were very congratulatory. I wasn't there but my boss told me that he too was surprised that they all really liked the cakes, some had seconds. Several of the doctors even came to the office the day before they left, after they learned that I was not an employee of the hotel but of their host. They were surprised that I was white, had never been to Jamaica and this was my first time preparing Black Cake.
