Jamaican Black Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 - 9 inch round cake pans.
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, then add rum, lime juice, vanilla, almond extract, and lime zest. Stir in mixed fruit, wine, and molasses. Sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and salt. Fold into batter, being careful not to over-mix. Pour into prepared pans.
• Bake in preheated oven for 80 to 90 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Steps:

• Add the dates, figs, 1 cup of the port, 1 cup of the rum, the almonds, brandied cherries with their liquid, currants, candied orange peel, prunes and dark and golden raisins to a food processor. Process this mixture until the dried fruit is broken down into smaller chunks. Stir in the orange juice. Allow it to soak in the rum for at least 2 hours 30 minutes, but preferably for 2 to 3 days.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 cake pans and line them with brown or wax paper.
• In a stand mixer, combine the butter, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt, molasses, browning and eggs. Slowly add the rum-soaked fruit to the mixer a little at a time and mix to combine all of the ingredients.
• Divide the cake batter between the prepared cake pans. Bake the cakes in a water bath by filling a large roasting pan halfway up with water and then setting the cake pans inside. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Sprinkle the remaining port and rum on top of the cakes and let them cool. These cakes will last for days stored in parchment paper and plastic wrap and for weeks when frozen.

Steps:

• Place the dried fruit in a glass or ceramic bowl and cover with the Guinness stout, the muscatel or brandy and 1/4 cup of the rum. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 days (and up to several weeks -- the preferred method). Check the mixture every other day: if the fruit has soaked up all the liquor, add another splash of rum or stout and stir.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Grind the fruit mixture to a mushy pulp in a blender or food processor. Measure out 2 cups of the mixture and set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Add the vanilla, nutmeg and burnt-sugar coloring; mix well
• In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder
• Add, alternately, the fruit mixture and dry ingredients to the batter, mixing until just incorporated after each addition. Do not beat.
• Pour the batter into a 9-by-1 1/2-inch deep round pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• While the cake is still warm, splash the remaining 1/4 cup of rum over the top. Let cool. The finished cake is quite moist, almost like an English plum pudding. It is at its best when served a day or two after baking, and it will last for two weeks or more if kept in the refrigerator and occasionally topped up with rum.