Jamaican Black Cake Recipes

JAMAICAN BLACK CAKE (CHRISTMAS RUM CAKE)

Steps:

• Make sure that your fruit mixture has been soaking for at least 3-4 days before adding to the cake mixture. If your fruits are whole, add the mix to the blender or food processor with the wine and rum and blend until they turn into a paste (adding the extra alcohol will help with this process). Mix in your Angostura bitters if desired. Set aside.
• Prepare two, 8-inch cake pans by greasing them with butter, as well as lining with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
• For the batter: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
• In a separate container, crack the eggs. Whisk in the lime juice. Set aside.
• Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, cream together your softened butter and brown sugar in a large bowl for about 5-10 minutes until light and fluffy.
• Slowly, add the egg to the butter mixture, beating with each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the lime zest, vanilla, mixed essence, rose water to the wet ingredients, and continue to mix.
• Add in the macerated fruit mixture a little bit at a time, until combined.
• Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and fold in using a spatula or wooden spoon. Stir in the browning a tablespoon at a time to achieve the desired colour (usually dark-brown).
• Evenly divide the batter into the prepared cake pans. To ensure that the cake remains moist when baking, add a roasting pan with water to the bottom rack of the oven. Place cakes on the racks right above, and bake for 70-80 minutes.
• Remove cakes from the oven once done (a toothpick or a knife inserted in the centre should come out clean), and let rest in pan for 5 minutes. Brush the tops of the cakes with a couple tablespoons of the mixture of wine and rum. Once cool enough to handle, remove cakes from pan and brush with remaining wine/rum mixture. Wait at least several hours before serving.

JAMAICAN BLACK CAKE

Steps:

• Place the dried fruit in a glass or ceramic bowl and cover with the Guinness stout, the muscatel or brandy and 1/4 cup of the rum. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 days (and up to several weeks -- the preferred method). Check the mixture every other day: if the fruit has soaked up all the liquor, add another splash of rum or stout and stir.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Grind the fruit mixture to a mushy pulp in a blender or food processor. Measure out 2 cups of the mixture and set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Add the vanilla, nutmeg and burnt-sugar coloring; mix well
• In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder
• Add, alternately, the fruit mixture and dry ingredients to the batter, mixing until just incorporated after each addition. Do not beat.
• Pour the batter into a 9-by-1 1/2-inch deep round pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• While the cake is still warm, splash the remaining 1/4 cup of rum over the top. Let cool. The finished cake is quite moist, almost like an English plum pudding. It is at its best when served a day or two after baking, and it will last for two weeks or more if kept in the refrigerator and occasionally topped up with rum.