Black cake is a rich fruit cake made with dried fruit that has been soaking in rum and cherry brandy, sometimes for months, then ground to a paste and baked into a dark, dense, moist cake. It gets its colour from browning, sugar cooked until nearly black.
Plan ahead: the fruit needs at least a week in its jar. Many cooks start a new jar as soon as one Christmas is over, ready for the next.
The cake bakes slowly at a low temperature and is fed with more rum while it is still warm. It contains alcohol and is not for children.
The recipe
Black Cake
Prep
45 min
Cook
2 hr 30 min
Soaking the fruit (at least 1 week)
7 days
Total
7 days 3 hr
Serves
24
Makes
2 cakes, 9 inches (23 cm)
Times and quantities are our best estimates. This recipe is still being kitchen-tested, so trust your eyes and taste as you go.
Servings
Ingredient amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pot size may need adjusting too.
Ingredients
Tick items off as you gather them.
For the fruit
For the cake
Method
Soak the fruit
Chop the prunes and cherries. Put all the fruit in a large glass jar, pour over the 2 cups (480 ml) rum and the cherry brandy, and stir.
Close tightly and leave in a cool, dark place for at least 1 week, stirring every few days.
Make the batter
Blend the fruit with its liquid, in batches, to a coarse paste.
Heat the oven to 275°F (135°C). Grease two 9-inch (23 cm) round pans and line them with two layers of baking paper.
Beat the butter and sugar together for 5 minutes until light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the essences and lime zest.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, spices and salt.
Fold the fruit paste and the flour mixture into the butter mixture, a little of each at a time, until evenly mixed.
Stir in the browning until the batter is very dark brown.
Bake and feed
Divide between the pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 2 to 2½ hours, until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean of raw batter (it will still be slightly sticky).
While the cakes are hot, spoon about ¼ cup (60 ml) rum over each. Leave to cool completely in the pans.
Wrap well in baking paper and foil. Keep in a tin, feeding with a little more rum each week if you are keeping them.
Serve it with
Thin slices with a glass of ponche de crème or sorrel at Christmas
Substitutions
Quick soak: simmer the fruit with the rum and cherry brandy for 15 minutes, cool, cover and leave overnight before blending.
Cherry brandy: use more rum, or port.
Browning: make your own by melting 1 cup (200 g) sugar in a heavy pot until it is black and smoking, then very carefully adding ½ cup (120 ml) boiling water (it will spit), stirring until smooth and cooling.
Storing and reheating
Wrapped well and kept in a tin in a cool place, it keeps for several weeks, especially if fed with rum.
Freeze for up to 6 months.
Cook's notes
Contains alcohol, which is not all cooked off.
The low oven temperature keeps the outside from burning before the dense centre is cooked.
Toasted bene (sesame) seeds bound in hot molasses and sugar syrup and rolled into small, chewy-crunchy balls. Press the mixture flat instead for bene sticks.
