Trinidadian black cake is reminiscent of the traditional British fruit cake, except that it’s soaked in rum rather than whisky or brandy. And we mean really soaked. The fruit is steeped for a week in rum, rather than just a few hours, and the finished cake is drenched in rum. It’s normally made a few weeks, if not months, before Christmas and liberally doused in rum each week, which is probably how it got its name.
450g of butter, 450g of sugar, eight eggs, one teaspoonful of lemon essence, two teaspoonfuls of lime zest, two teaspoonfuls of almond essence, two teaspoonfuls of vanilla, 450g of flour, four teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, two teaspoonfuls of mixed spice, a pinch of grated nutmeg.
For the fruit base: 450g of pitted prunes, 450g of raisins, one bottle of cherry brandy, 450g of currants, one bottle of rum (and another to spare), two tablespoonfuls of angostura bitters.
For the browning: 450g of brown sugar, 120ml of boiling water.
One week before making up the cake, chop up the fruit and place it in a large bowl. Pour in the bitters, cherry brandy and rum. Cover the bowl, put it in a cool area, and let it stand for a week while the fruit soaks up the liquid. Stir the mixture once a day to ensure that all the fruit gets an even soaking, and cover the bowl again. Before making up the cake, sprinkle a thick layer of flower inside a 20cm-diameter cake-tin and line it with a double layer of baking paper. Prepare the browning by ‘cooking’ the sugar in a pan over heat until it caramelises, adding boiling water gradually. Mix it well, remove it from the heat and put it aside to cool. Be careful, as hot sugar is hotter than boiling water.
Preheat the oven to gas mark 1/120C. Sift together the flour, baking-powder, mixed spice and nutmeg. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, allowing each to mix in well before adding the next. Mix in the lemon essence, lime zest, almond essence and vanilla. Add the sifted dry ingredients gradually, beating the mixture well after each addition. It should be creamy. Mix in the chopped, soaked fruit. Pour in the ‘browning’ liquid a little at a time while beating the mixture well. If it becomes too liquid, add a little flour, but best take care to avoid it becoming too liquid in the first place. Pour the mixture into the lined cake-tin, put it in the middle of the preheated oven and leave it to bake for three hours. To test whether it’s done, insert a skewer into its centre. If it comes out clean, the cake’s done. Now remove it from the oven, let it stand for a few minutes, then pour a generous dose of rum over the top, allowing it to soak in a little at a time. Leave the cake to cool in the tin. When it has completely cooled down, remove it from the tin, give it another soaking of rum and wrap it in foil, then place it in an airtight tin. Keep bringing it out at regular intervals, pouring rum over it, wrapping it up again and returning it to the tin.