Jamaican Christmas cake

Ingredients

Fruit to soak

• 500 graisins
• 400 gprunes, stoned
• 300 gcurrants
• 200 gglace cherries
• 150 gmixed peel
• 500 mldark rum
• 500 mlport or red wine

Browning

• 200 ggranulated sugar
• 100 mlboiling water
• or 4 tablespoons bought browning

Cake

• 350 gbutter, softened
• 350 gdark brown sugar
• 6eggs
• 350 gplain flour
• 2 teaspoonsbaking powder
• 2 teaspoonsground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoongrated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoonground allspice
• 1 teaspoonvanilla
• 1 teaspoonalmond essence
• the zest of 1 lime
• a pinch of salt

To feed the cake

• extra rum, for spooning over

Directions

1. Chop the prunes and cherries roughly. Put all the dried fruit in a large jar. Pour the rum and port over it. Make sure everything is submerged. Seal it and keep it somewhere cool and dark. It keeps for years without refrigeration.
2. Top it up with rum if the level drops. Shake or stir it occasionally. Some households blend the soaked fruit smooth. Blend it with some of its liquid if you do. Making the browning takes real care.
3. Put the sugar in a heavy dry pan. Melt it over a medium heat without stirring. Let it caramelise and then keep going. Take it past amber to a dark smoking brown. It should be almost black and smell burnt. Take the pan off the heat first. Pour the boiling water in very slowly. Stand well back and use a long spoon.
4. Keep your face and hands well away. Never use cold water, which is worse still. Beat the butter and brown sugar together. Beat them until pale and fluffy. Give it a good five full minutes. Add the eggs in one at a time. Beat each one in completely first. Add a spoonful of flour if it starts to curdle. Adding eggs too fast splits the mixture.
5. Sift the flour with the baking powder. Add all the ground spices and the salt. Fold it into the butter mixture. Add the vanilla, almond essence and lime zest. Fold in the soaked fruit with its liquid. Add the browning in gradually. It should be a deep dark brown.
6. Add more browning for a blacker cake. Fold it all through thoroughly. Line a deep round tin with a double layer of paper. Line the sides as well as the base. Wrap the outside with brown paper too.
7. Tie the brown paper on with string. This cake bakes for two and a half hours. Heat the oven to 150C before baking. Pour the batter into the lined tin. Bake it for about two and a half hours. Do not open the oven for the first two hours. Take it out and leave it in the tin. Spoon rum over the hot surface at once. It soaks straight in while warm.
8. Let it cool completely in the tin. Spoon a little over it every few days. Wrap it well between feedings. That keeps it moist and deepens the flavour. Wrap it in paper and then in foil. Keep it in a tin somewhere cool. It keeps for a year or even more.

Technique

• The cake contains a great deal of alcohol: the fruit soaks in rum and port for months, more rum is spooned over the baked cake, and baking drives off only some of it, so it is genuinely alcoholic to eat; a version soaked in fruit juice can be made instead.
• The black colour comes from browning, which is sugar cooked past caramel until nearly black and then let down with water; it is bitter rather than sweet and balances a very sweet cake, giving colour without adding sweetness.
• Adding water to burnt sugar causes a violent eruption of scalding syrup, so take the pan off the heat, pour boiling water in very slowly with a long spoon and stand well back; bought browning avoids this entirely.

Substitutions

• Bought browning is sold across Jamaica and avoids making burnt sugar at home.
• The fruit can be soaked in fruit juice instead of alcohol for a non-alcoholic cake.

Variations

• Some households blend the soaked fruit smooth and others leave it in pieces.
• Black cake is made across Trinidad, Guyana and Barbados with local variations.
• The cake is served plain or covered with marzipan and royal icing.

History

Fruit is set to soak long before December; the cake is the centrepiece of Jamaican Christmas alongside sorrel.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jamaican Christmas cake?

Jamaican Christmas cake is a dessert from Jamaica: black cake of dried fruit steeped for months in rum and port. Fruit is set to soak long before December; the cake is the centrepiece of Jamaican Christmas alongside sorrel.

How long does Jamaican Christmas cake take to make?

Jamaican Christmas cake takes 1 hour plus months of soaking of preparation and 2 hours 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes one large cake. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Jamaican Christmas cake?

Yes, within limits. Bought browning is sold across Jamaica and avoids making burnt sugar at home. The fruit can be soaked in fruit juice instead of alcohol for a non-alcoholic cake.

What is the most important thing to get right in Jamaican Christmas cake?

Keep your face and hands well away. Never use cold water, which is worse still. Beat the butter and brown sugar together. Beat them until pale and fluffy. Give it a good five full minutes. Add the eggs in one at a time. Beat each one in completely first. Add a spoonful of flour if it starts to curdle. Adding eggs too fast splits the mixture.