Turks and Caicos Christmas Cake

Rum and Fruit Feature in This Dense and Moist Christmas Cake

When a cook comes out of the kitchen holding a black cake, it generally provokes sympathy for the cook and an assumption that something really terrible has happened. But the blackness of this cake is an achievement and has nothing to do with overbaking or high oven temperatures. This is a Caribbean Black Cake, a traditional cake served at Christmas in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and its dark colour is due to the dark sugars and rum which are key ingredients.

Like driving on the left side of the road, the Caribbean Black Cake is a result of British colonial influence. The cake is a relative to the plum pudding, a traditional British dessert served at Christmastime. While the making of Black Cake is just as time consuming as its British cousin, the flavours and ingredients are different. Fruit is usually ground or chopped up more finely. The sugar is browned or cooked to a burnt syrup stage before it’s added to the mixture. There is also a greater variety and amount of spices used such as nutmeg, allspice, cloves, cinnamon.

But the really notable difference is the alcohol content. Unlike British plum pudding which calls for brandy, Black Cake is made with rum, and it is this ingredient which goes to the heart of the flavor. The fruit for the cake is soaked in the rum for days and sometimes up to a year. Not only does this produce a strong flavour, but it means the cake will last for a very long time.

Black Cake is very much rooted in island history. Sugar cane plants were introduced in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the late 1700’s. It was discovered that when leftover molasses fermented with the yeast in the air, alcohol was produced. Distilleries popped up everywhere. Today production and sales of rum are still vibrant. Bambarra Rum is an award winning rum producer on Providenciales, and one of its many products is rum cake.

Recipes for Caribbean Black Cake

This recipe is from from Levi Roots’ book, Caribbean Food Made Easy published by Octopus Books.

This recipe is a Guyanese Black Cake by Jehan. This recipe is also served at weddings.

And finally, a recipe for Caribbean Christmas Rum Black Cake by Sushima that has a marzipan and royal icing topping.

Try one of these recipes and create your own take on a Turks and Caicos Christmas Cake and bring some Caribbean Christmas cheer your way! Christmas in the Caribbean means cake with some “spirit” that’s steeped in a dark rich history.