Trinidad Black Cake

[kirra]

Trinidad Black Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 lb butter (use margarine for pareve)
1 lb sugar
8 eggs
1 tsp lemon essence
2 tsp lime rind (zested)
2 tsp almond essence
2 tsp vanilla
1 lb all-purpose flour (use 1/2 cassava flour + 1/2 lb rice flour for gluten-free)
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Fruit Base:

1 lb pitted prunes
1 lb raisins
1 lb currants
1 bottle cherry brandy
1 bottle rum and/or Bailey’s
2 tbsp Angostura bitters

Browning:

1 lb brown sugar
1/2 cup boiling hot water

Additionally:

1 more bottle of rum

Preparation:

Three to Five Days Before:
Up to 5 days before you make the cake, chop up all the fruits for the fruit base. Place in a large bowl, pour in Angostura bitters, cherry brandy and rum (I use Bailey’s when I have extra money and it really makes it extra special). Leave in a cool corner, covered, to soak up the liquor. As I said 3-5 days before is the best option, 24 hours minimum if you must be ’so last-minute’!

Blend Fruit Base:
Pour the soaked fruit and juices into a blender and blend until thick and still a bit chunky (like tomato sauce)

Browning:
Burn sugar until caramelized, add hot water gradually. Mix well and leave to cool. Please be extra careful at this stage as a ‘browning’ burn is NOT a fun thing!

Cake:
Preheat oven to 250F (no that’s not a typo).

Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing to incorporate. Add lemon essence, lemon zest, almond essence and vanilla.

Mix and sift flour, baking powder, mixed spice and nutmeg. Gradually add sifted ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix in fruit base puree and ‘browning’.

Pour batter into greased tins that have been doubly lined with brown paper or parchment paper. Bake for 3 hours.

Once removed from the oven soak the tops with equal portions of the remaining bottle of rum. Don’t be surprised if the top of the cake starts to look pale and ‘weird’.

After several hours, and definitely by the next day all that alcohol will be absorbed and you will finally understand how this cake got its name!