Last week, I began preparing food for Christmas Day. A bit too early, you say? No way, Trinidad black cake needs to be started now!
Along with pastelles and sorrel, black cake is a Christmas Day staple in Trinidad. The mixed dried fruit in for the cake needs to be soaked in alcohol for at least two days. Some people think it needs to be a month-long process.
I made a few tweaks to the recipe in my Naparima Girls cookbook. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I don’t like mixed peel. Added to that, my local supermarket was out of glacé cherries. I simply upped the quantity of raisins, currants and sultanas. Some of the other Trinidad black cake recipes I found online pureé the soaked fruit & nuts, but I like the look of them whole.
If you plan on making two cakes like I have, ensure you have a HUGE mixing bowl so you can distribute the fruit evenly throughout. Notice in my image below, one of the cakes has visibly more fruit than the the other – the large bowl I used just wasn’t big enough. Also, I should have doubled the quantity of browning that I made, it’s called ‘black’ cake for a reason!
Once baked, the cake needs to be ‘fed’ with a rum and brandy mixture. Again, depending on personal preference, this process can take anywhere from an hour to a number of days.
Now do you see why Trinidad black cake preparations may need at least a month?
Trinidad black cake
Ingredients
- 225 g/8oz prunes pitted and chopped
- 225 g/8oz raisins
- 225 g/8oz currants
- 225 g/8oz sultanas
- 160 g/5⅔oz mixed peel
- 115 g/4oz glacé cherries halved
- 60 g/2oz chopped almonds
- 175 ml/6fl oz dark rum
- 240 ml/8½fl oz cherry brandy
- 225 g/8oz soft brown sugar
- 225 g/8oz butter
- 5 eggs
- 1 tsp lime zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 225 g/8oz plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 50 ml/1¾ fl oz browning
- 120 ml/4fl oz ½ & ½ dark rum & cherry brandy mixture to finish
Instructions
- In large mixing bowl, combine all the dried fruit, chopped almonds, rum and cherry brandy
- Cover and allow to soak for at least 2 days, stirring occasionally so that all the fruit comes into contact with the liquid
- Preheat the oven to 120ºC/250ºF/Gas mark ½
- Grease a pair of 23cm/9" cake tins and line the bottom and sides of each with parchment paper
- In an extra-large mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar
- In a measuring jug, whisk the eggs and pour into the butter/sugar mixture in three batches, stirring well between each addition
- Mix in the lime zest and vanilla extract
- Stir in the browning until the colour is evenly distributed
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon
- Fold the flour mixture into the batter
- Add the well-soaked fruit & nut mixture and stir through the batter until well distributed
- Divide the mixture equally between the two prepared cake tins
- Bake for an hour before reducing the oven temperature to 105ºC/225ºF/Gas mark ¼ and cooking for a further 1½ hours or until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes away clean
- Transfer the cakes, still in their tins, to wire racks
- While still warm, prick the top of each cake with a skewer and pour over a little of the rum/cherry brandy mixture every few minutes until cakes can no longer absorb the liquid
- When they've completely cooled, invert the cakes onto plates
- The cakes are ready to slice & serve, however, they'll improve if they're set aside for at least a few days
- Wrap each in cling film and store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to a month... or Christmas Day!
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