Recipe: Jamaican Black Cake for Louise

Jamaican Black Cake

4 cups, mixed fruits, this may include raisins, currants, prunes, citrons, dates and cherries.
6 ozs. flour
1 cup white rum
1/2 lb granulated sugar
6 eggs
1 tbsp. mixed spice
6 ozs. bread crumbs
1/2 lb. butter
1 tbsp. browning
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. lime or orange rind
1 tsp. almond flavouring
2 tsp. lime juice
1 pint port wine or brandy (optional)
1/2 cup chopped nuts, except peanuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line bottom and sides of 9 inch baking tins with brown paper and or grease-proof paper. Grease baking pan with butter or other shortening.

Beat egg and sugar until fluffy. Combine browning, almond flavoring, vanilla lime juice and rind.

Add eggs one at a time, beat in wll. Add soaked fruit, cherries dates and nuts. Combine breadcrumbs, baking powder, flour, salt and mixed spice. Add port wine and rum. Pour mixture into baking tins. Bake for approximately an hour.

Tip: Insert a clean knive in the middle of cake to determine if cake is baked. If knife comes out clean, cake is fully baked.

Whether you choose to call this cake a Black cake or a rum cake or just a Christmas cake, it's delicious. But to bring your Christmas cake to perfection, you must start now, because it could take weeks, or sometimes months to perfect. It's essential for the fruits to ferment in Jamaican overproofed rum for a very long time. Wash raisins in cold water and dry them before soaking in rum. Soak raisins, currants and minced prunes in a glass bottle using rum or red port wine.

Yields one 9 inch cake
Source: Jamaican Culture Online