Island Christmas Cake Recipes

CHRISTMAS CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla, lime juice, and lime zest. Add the eggs 1 at a time, and incorporate well. Combine bread crumbs, flour, all the spices, baking powder, and salt. Combine rum and port. Add flour mixture alternately with rum/port mixture into the batter. Fold in the chopped marinated fruit.
• Prepare 1 (9-inch) cake pan or 2 spring form pans by lining bottom and sides with parchment paper. Fill the pan 3/4 of the way and bake until a skewer comes out of the center of the cake clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
• Put raisins, prunes, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla beans in a glass jar and cover with mixture of equal parts Jamaican white rum, Jamaican spiced rum, and Port. Cover with a tight fitting lid, label, and date the jar. Put in a cool, dry cupboard. From time to time, check the fruits to see if more liquor is needed, as the fruits will plump and soak up the liquid.
• Keep the fruit covered in liquor. It is best to allow the fruit to marinate for at least 1 month for best flavor.

CARIBBEAN CHRISTMAS CAKE (KNOWN AS BLACK CAKE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F; spray a nine-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla and browning until soft and creamy.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.
• In a third bowl, beat the eggs with the rum.
• Add egg mixture to butter mixture and thoroughly combine, then stir in zest, fruit and nuts.
• Fold in flour mixture; do not overbeat.
• Put batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for approximately 90 minutes, or until cake tests done; may need longer.
• Remove cake from pan when cool.