Torta Negra Galesa (Black Welsh Cake)

Rick and I recently returned from our ExpeditionPlus! tour in South America from Coast to Coast across Patagonia. It was a great experience, and a great way to get to know in depth several aspects of the geography, the history, and the culture of the two countries we visited: Chile and Argentina.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the trip was the discovery of a Welsh community in a fairly remote part of Patagonia, along the Chubut River. Welsh immigrants came to this part of the world in the second half of the nineteenth century and founded a few towns that still retain some Welsh traits and traditions, like afternoon tea. This is especially true for the town of Gaiman, where we spent the night and where we had Welsh Tea, featuring buttered bread, berry jam and slices of a couple of different cakes. The following is a version of Black Welsh cake, among those that I found in my research, with some of the changes that I made to the original recipe

Ingredients:

Place chopped fruit and nuts in a bowl, pour the rum and let them soak until the next day. In another bowl mix the flour, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Blend in the butter, using the tips of your fingers to mix the butter with the dry mixture
Second day
Add thoroughly the baking powder to the dry mixture. Add the fruit and nuts soaked in rum. Put the baking soda in a cup and add a bit of hot milk and add to the mixture. Add thoroughly the beaten eggs. The mixture should be quite wet and sticky.
Place mixture in one or two baking pans and bake at 275-300 degrees F for 2 hours or when a knife comes out dry.