This Festive Caribbean Fruit Cake is also known as Black Cake or Rum Cake. Its name comes from the deep, dark colour that is a result of using burnt sugar – also known as browning. It’s served at festive occasions and celebrations across the Caribbean.
It’s rich, dense and oh so moist, but you can read all about that after the recipe.
The Caribbean Fruit Cake cake recipe you didn’t know you needed
In the Caribbean, this cake is called a Black Cake. It can be found in almost every part of the region – and every family has its own recipe. Those are usually handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter – and so it goes.
So mine is based on a few Black Cake recipes, tweaked slightly to my taste.
The ingredients
One look at the ingredients list may have you running for the door! It looks a bit overwhelming, but do stop and read each step. Think of it like this:
- Prepare the fruit 3-12 months ahead of baking – big step out of the way
- If you can’t find cake browning in the stores, it’s not difficult to make your own, but do use an old or cheap stainless steel pan in case the mixture sticks and you can’t get it off. Note: don’t confuse gravy browning for cake browning, it has things added you don’t want in the cake.
- The rest – well it’s simply a fruit cake recipe, full of good ingredients and happy spices.
What makes this cake unique
- Blitzing the fruit into a paste before soaking it in rum and port means it’s a smoother texture than regular fruit cakes.
- The fruit has a long soaking time: a minimum of three months and up to a year.
- Using browning – which is caramelised, almost burnt, brown sugar – to achieve the darker colour.
I first made this style of cake several years ago and loved it. There are a few reasons for this, including the fact I’m not a huge fan of traditional fruit cakes that I’ve grown up with. I also don’t like the texture of sultanas, currants and raisins unless they’re so dense I can’t distinguish between them. They can also tend towards being overly sweet and a bit dry.
Mine has no dried mixed citrus peel, because I simply don’t like it.
It is super moist and the festive spices and flavours simply calypso around your tongue.
Festive Caribbean Fruit Cake
Course: Dessert, CakeCuisine: CaribbeanDifficulty: Some skill required3
delicious cakes30
minutes1
hour15
minutes25
minutes3-12
months20
minutesRich with fruit and happy spices, this deeply coloured festive Caribbean cake will have you dancing the rumba in no time.
You will need
- Soaked fruits
450 grams currants
450 grams raisins
450 grams pitted prunes
125 grams cranberries
125 grams red glacé cherries
750 ml bottle of decent quality port
750 ml bottle of dark rum
1 bottle each of rum and port for topping up during the soaking period (you probably won’t use it all).
- Browning (burnt sugar ingredients)
4 tablespoons brown or raw cane sugar
240ml hot water
- For the cake
450g unsalted butter, softened
450g brown sugar
12 eggs
Zest of one lemon
Zest of one orange
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp lemon extract
700g macerated fruit mixture (about 3 cups)
300g plain white flour (2 1/2 cups)
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground all spice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
- To finish (optional)
1/4 cup dark rum
1/4 cup cherry brandy
Here’s what to do
- Prepare your fruits
- Fruit can be prepared up to 12 months in advance, but at the very least, try to let it soak for 3 months. The longer it soaks, the better.
- When ready to bake, mix all the fruit together in a large bowl. When all mixed up, take about a cup at a time and transfer to a food processor or blender. Add just enough port and then process, leaving some coarser bits of fruit, but the majority is a paste-like consistency.
- Repeat until all the fruits have been blended. The fruit mixture should not be too runny.
- Transfer from the food processor to a large jar and when done, add remaining port and all the dark rum to make a thick, moist mixture.
- Stir and let mixture soak in a dark place for at least one month, but it can be soaked up to 12 months.
- Check now and then and add more port or rum as required keep the mixture moist, but not runny.
- Make the browning
- Place sugar in a small saucepan and turn the heat on low. Gently stir and turn the sugar over with a spoon until it begins to melt and caramelise.
- It will start to stick to the spoon, but do not touch the mixture as it will cause a nasty burn!
- Once the sugar has melted completely and turned a deep brown colour, slowly and carefully add the water (or port). Stand back as it may spit, then stir the mixture until it’s nice and smooth.
- Remove from the heat and let cool, then strain into a jar. Cool completely before using.
- Get ready
- Preheat oven to 135-150C.
- Line 2x 20cm + 1x 15cm cake tins with 2x layers of brown paper and one of baking parchment. This will help with even cooking. Make sure the parchment is on the inside of the tin, so it’s layer the cake will actually be touching to bake on.
- Let’s bake cake
- Make sure your eggs and butter are at room temperature.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the zests, vanilla, almond, and lemon extracts. Whisk just enough to blend the eggs with the remaining ingredients through and set aside.
- In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.
- In large mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until pale. Add egg mixture a little at a time, beating well between each addition.
- Turn the speed down to low and continue beating while adding the fruit mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer and sift in the flour mixture in three batches, folding through after each addition.
- Next, add the burnt sugar (browning) one tablespoon at a time until the mixture turns a deep colour, usually between 3-5 tablespoons. Mix well.
- Divide the cake mixture evenly between the prepared cake pans.
- Bake at 135-150C around 1-1.25 hours.
- Test with a metal skewer – the cakes are cooked when the skewer comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and if you’re sprinkling the top with the extra dark rum and cherry brandy over the top, do that now and then leave to cool in the tins.
- When cooled, remove from the tins and wrap in foil before storing in airtight containers.
- Let the cakes sit, wrapped for a minimum of one week before cutting.
Tips and tricks
- Note about browning: it is possible to buy this in supermarkets, but as it’s used for gravies, the version we find in Australia usually contains salt, which is not what you want. If you do make your own, make sure to watch it constantly as it will burn quickly. For this reason, it’s best if you don’t use your most expensive saucepan – just in case.
- The recipe calls for a final sprinkling of alcohol on top when it’s cooked. I prefer to eliminate this step, because the alcohol gives the finished cake a rather sticky texture. While that’s great for covering with fondant icing, the cake is just as good to eat naked.
