Trinidad Black Cake Recipe By Tasty

Steps:

• To prepare the fruit mix: Finely chop currants, raisins, prunes, figs and cherries.
• Combine in a large bowl with mixed peel and almonds.
• Mix vanilla and ground cloves with rum, and pour the rum mixture over the fruit mix.
• Stir to combine.
• Cover the bowl tightly, and let soak for a minimum of 24 hours and up to one month.
• Prepare the caramelised sugar on the day you intend to bake the cake.
• Put brown sugar in a heavy pot.
• Carefully cook over low heat stirring constantly, until sugar liquefies and begins to turn darker.
• Do not burn!
• When sugar has turned dark, remove pot from heat and gradually stir in hot water.
• Mix well.
• Let the mixture cool.
• Final cooking: Preheat oven to 120 C (250 F).
• Line a round cake tin with buttered parchment paper.
• Stir lime peel and caramelised sugar into the fruit mixture.
• Set aside.
• Sift together flour and baking powder.
• Set aside.
• Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until blended.
• Add the flour mixture, stir to combine.
• Add the fruit mixture, stir to combine.
• Pour batter into the prepared tin and place the pan in a larger shallow pan filled with hot water.
• Cook in the preheated oven for 2 1/2- 3 hours or until cake tests done.
• Cake should shrink from the sides of the pan.
• Cool cake in the tin for 24 hours before removing.
• Let the cake ripen for some time before serving.
• Fruit cake keeps very well, but if you want to store it for a longer time, moisten it with additional rum from time to time.

Steps:

• Place raisins, currants, prunes, and mixed peel in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Transfer to a large jar.
• Pour cherry brandy, 1/2 cup brown sugar, dark rum, and mixed spice into the jar; mix well and seal. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until flavors blend, 2 weeks to 3 months.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper.
• Combine butter and 1 3/4 cup brown sugar in a bowl; beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs until smooth. Beat in raisin mixture until evenly incorporated. Fold in flour and vanilla extract gradually until batter is smooth and falls off the back of a lifted spoon.
• Divide batter between the prepared cake pans. Cover cake pans loosely with aluminum foil.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cakes are firm and spring back when lightly pressed, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Cool cakes in the pans, 8 hours to overnight. Wrap in aluminum foil to keep moist.

Steps:

• Note: I usually end up using the better part of a whole bottle of rum by the time this cake is done.
• Note: any mixture of dried fruits would probably work-- you just want between 4 1/2- 5 1/2 lbs total dried fruits and nuts.
• Puree all prep ingredients (except for the rum) in a food processor until you have a black/brown paste. You will have to do this in batches unless you want your machine to die a horrible death. Put it all into a large bowl and --.
• This is the point at which you will start laughing at how crazy this recipe is. Just wait --.
• -- Stir the rum into your paste, inhale, pass out -- come to and cover the bowl and let it mature for a long time on the counter. WEEKS. As long as you can. I let mine sit at least a month. If the paste gets dry- add more rum. It should always be moist and heady with the scent of Jamaican paradise. I usually do this in October.
• The day before you are ready to BAKE the cake, cook the caramel sugar.
• To make the caramel sugar: boil together the dark brown sugar and water until it is reduced to 1 3/4 cups. It should simmer on med-low for about 15 minutes.
• Set aside overnight to cool. It may solidify, if so, just microwave it for 2 minute when ready to use.
• Baking day (= AT LEAST 1 week before eating day, I do it a month in advance):.
• preheat oven to 250°F Yes- 250 degrees.
• Find your most humongous bowl and go buy one twice as large for mixing together everything, set aside.
• Bring fruit from its resting place. Stir in the lime peel, vanilla, and caramel. Set aside.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and cloves in a big bowl (not the humongous bowl). Set aside.
• Cream together the butter and dark sugar in the humongous bowl you bought. Add the eggs one at a time until well blended.
• Stir in the dry ingredients (from the big bowl) until blended.
• Stir in the fruit mixture.
• Pour into greased, parchment lined, MINI loaf pans (I use disposable aluminum pans), filling each pan 2/3 full (approx. 415 grams of batter). You will need 10 pans.
• The mini loaves are best for (as you can guess) this cake is POTENT. Tiny, tiny, tiny slices are best.
• Bake 2 1/2 hours. Checking for doneness after 2 hours.
• When the cakes are done (springs back to the touch) let cool on the counter completely.
• Drizzle with yet MORE rum, wrap in foil and let sit for at least a week more. Drizzling with rum everyday -- yummm.