Trinidad black cake

Ingredients

• Dried fruit

Fruit:

• 1/2 pound golden raisins
• 1/2 pound black raisins
• 1 pound dried prunes
• 1/2 pound glacé (candied) cherries
• 1 pound dried currants
• 1/4 pound candied mixed peel
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 bottle dark rum
• 1 bottle cherry brandy

Cake:

• 8 large eggs
• 1 pound butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 cup demerara sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• grated peel of 1/2 a lime and 1/2 an orange
• 1/2 pound chopped almonds (optional)
• 1/2 cup Caribbean browning
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons mixed essence
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Additional rum for brushing the cakes

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Preparation

• Soaking the fruits:
  Chop the fruits and put them in a large bowl. A big Tupperware bowl with a lid is good. Add the cinnamon stick and the booze. Cover the bowl tightly and set aside in a cool spot to macerate for at least 2-3 days. A week is better. A month or even a year is not unknown.
• Make the cake:
  Preheat the oven to 275°. Butter two 8″ or 9″ round baking tins and line with parchment paper.
• Put the macerated fruit in a blender or food processor and pulse to break down the fruit a little. Don’t purée the fruit, leave it a bit lumpy. You can skip this step if you prefer your fruit a bit chunkier. I did.
• Macerating fruit:
  Sift the salt, flour and baking powder together and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the eggs, citrus peel, spices, vanilla and essence and mix to combine.
• Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Stir in the fruits, nuts and browning.
• Pour the batter into the cake tins and don’t forget to lick the bowl. Black cake batter is the best ever. I think it’s the rum. Bake the cakes at 275° for 2 hours. Remove from the oven and brush the tops with rum.
• Let the cakes cool and brush them with rum again. Remove the cakes from the pan and wrap in parchment paper or wax paper, then aluminum foil.
• Black cake is a beautiful “keeping” cake and you can hold them in the refrigerator for up to a year.
• If you want to keep your cakes for more than a few days, you can brush them with rum occasionally to help keep them moist. Makes 2 cakes.