This rich and moist Jamaican Black Cake is the centerpiece dessert that's perfect for any holiday or celebration. Black Cake, also known as rum cake, Christmas cake, and wedding cake, depending on when it's served, is a staple dessert recipe in all of the Caribbean.
The full recipe with ingredients/instructions is available on the recipe card at the bottom of the post. Important tips/tricks are also included in the blog post.
Black Cake is exactly what it's named, a cake that is really black. It's also rich, dense, moist, and tastes like a strong liquored cake with tons of flavor and essence. Growing up in a Jamaican household, Christmas was all I knew when it came to celebrations. We also had the cake at every wedding, including my very own.
Black cake is known by many names, such as rum cake, Christmas cake, or wedding cake (where it's covered in royal icing). Black cake is a traditional dessert made throughout the Caribbean islands and is not exclusive to Jamaica. Everyone has their own version of the cake, but it’s pretty much all the same. Dried fruits are soaked in wine or rum for weeks or months in advance. This mixture is then either added whole or blended and turned into a delicious cake.
The process of making the cake is what makes it so special and delicious. Many bakers even sell the cakes during the Holidays, and it's worth every penny. Depending on who makes the cake, some are more cake-like, with actual whole or cut dried fruits in the cake. Others are well blended and come with a more pudding-like consistency. I like the latter and it's what I'm sharing with you today.
Be sure to try my Caribbean Rum Cake and Jamaican Sorrel Drink too.
Ingredients for Black Cake
Before jumping into the process, I want to mention the ingredients that are needed for this cake. Some ingredients need to be made/bought/prepared in advance.
- Dried fruits - traditionally, the dried fruits used in the recipe included dried pitted prunes, currants, dried cherries, and raisins. I replaced the currants with golden raisins.
- Red sweet wine - Red Label Wine, a Jamaican wine, is the wine generally used in this recipe. However, any sweet dessert wine can be used as a substitute. I used Manischewitz Concord grape wine.
- Butter, Flour, Sugar, Breadcrumbs, Eggs, and Baking Powder - these are the basic cake ingredients that will give your cake structure. The breadcrumbs are added to keep this cake super moist.
- Spices, Lime, and Extracts - These add flavor to the cake.
- Burnt Sugar and Browning - These are what cause your cake to turn black. Browning and Burnt Sugar can both be found either online or in a Caribbean market.
How to make Jamaican Black Cake
First, you'll need to start by combining your dried fruits and wine in advance for at least 5 days. Fruits can be soaked much longer, up to 4-6 months, but 5 days is enough for me. You'll notice that the longer your fruits sit, the more wine they will absorb, meaning you may need to add more wine the longer they sit to cover the fruits.
When it's time to bake your cake, gather all your ingredients.
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 °C). Prepare a 10-inch baking pan by lining it with a cake pan liner and greasing the sides. Set aside.
Blend the wine and fruit mixture in a blender until smooth. Set aside.
Mix the all-purpose flour, plain breadcrumbs, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a bowl, then set it aside.
Cream the butter and dark brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy, for about 3 minutes.
Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Then, mix in the lime juice and zest, as well as the vanilla extract and almond extract, to the butter mixture and combine until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until combined.
Fold in the blended fruit and wine mixture, the browning, and the burnt sugar until fully combined. You'll notice how dark the cake batter gets once the browning and burnt sugar are added. The cake will also get darker as it bakes.
Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 2 and a half hours, until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and place it on a serving platter. Pour ¼ cup of the red dessert wine over the cake. Allow the cake to continue cooling overnight. The cake will continue to soak up the liquid that was poured on top.
Serve and enjoy.
Notes on Jamaican Black Cake
- I was able to find all the ingredients for this cake at my local grocery store and the island grocery store in my city. Browning and burnt sugar are available online if you don't have a local grocery store on your island.
- Some people soak their fruits in rum in addition to wine. I don't.
- You can also make your own burnt sugar for this recipe if you prefer.
- Store Black Cake at room temperature for a few days. It only lasts 1-2 days in our household.
- You can bake in smaller pans and give away as gifts. If baking in smaller pans, your cakes will bake much faster.
- Please remember to bake this cake on low, 250 degrees Fahrenheit (120 °C) if you like the softer pudding-like cake.
Looking for more Jamaican Holiday Recipes. Try these out:
Jamaican Black Cake
Ingredients
Equipment
Instructions
- Combine prunes, raisins, golden raisins, dried cherries, and 2 ½ cups of sweet red wine in an airtight container. Cover and let sit for at least 5 days or up to a few months. If storing longer than a few days, you will need to add more wine to the mixture to cover the fruits as the fruit will soak up the wine over time.
- When ready to bake, add the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121C) and prepare a 10-inch baking pan by using a pan liner and greasing the sides. Set aside.
- Mix the all-purpose flour, plain breadcrumbs, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and dark brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy, for about 3 minutes on medium speed.
- Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the lime juice and zest, vanilla extract, and almond extract to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Mix in the flour mixture until combined. Fold in the blended fruit mixture, the browning, and burnt sugar until fully combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 2 and half hours, until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then remove and pour ¼ cup of the sweet red wine over the cake. Allow the cake to continue cooling overnight. The cake will continue to soak up the liquid that was poured on top.
- Serve and enjoy.
Nutrition
Notes
- This cake can be baked in a smaller pan if needed. If using a 9-inch baking pan, you’ll have leftover batter to make a smaller cake. Smaller cakes will cook faster.
- You could also make your own burnt sugar for this recipe if you choose to do so.
- Black Cake is generally stored at room temperature. It will last for a few days.
- To add some rum to this cake, I suggest reducing the wine amount to 2 cups, and using ¾ cup of rum to soak the fruit. If using rum, use Jamaican white rum, like Wray & Nephew, but a dark/spiced rum should work too.
Jade says
do i have to use breadcrumbs?
Tanya says
Hi Jade, I've never made it without breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs or even crackers are usually added to the cake to soak up the extra moisture.
Kelly K says
What brand of butter do you use?
Tanya says
I usually use the store bought brand.
Kellie says
You wrote 1 tbsp of lime juice and lime zest. Is that 1 tbsp of each? Also, some people use mixed peel in their rum cake. Do you think the lime replaces the mixed peel flavor because both are citrus? Thank you.
Tanya says
Hi Kellie, great question. I use whatever zest I can get off the lime, which is about 2 teaspoons of zest and I squeeze 1 Tablespoon of lime juice. I'm not sure if the lime replaces the mixed peel, I'm not familiar with anyone using it in the cake. But I'd assume they have the same purpose. The main flavors in this cake is the fruit and wine.
Kellie says
@Tanya, Oh OK. Thanks a lot. I will try your other recipes as well.
Rebecca says
Hi, are you able to use this recipe as a cupcake recipe?
Tanya says
Hi Rebecca, I haven't personally tried that, but if you did, you'd likely just need to reduce the baking time.
Eli says
I’m curious why you use burnt sugar and browning? Aren’t they the same thing? Could you do 4 tbsp of one or the other. I just got my dried fruit soaking for December 🙂
Tanya says
Hey Eli, great question. The burnt sugar I use and linked is runnier than the browning and the color helped get the cake really black, rather than a light brown, which I found browning alone would need a lot added to get the same color. The burnt sugar is a bit sweeter too. I haven't used only one for the other though so I couldn't tell you how it would exactly taste.
Eli says
@Tanya, just checking - you use all the fruit in the batter for this cake? Looks like about 4 cups from your picture.
Tanya says
Yes, I used all the fruit in the batter.
Linda says
@Tanya, I made this for Christmas and did not have the browning so I substituted it with homemade burnt sugar and the cake came out perfect just not as black, but my family loved it. New Year's Day I made it again and use 1/4 cup molasses and 2 tablespoons burnt sugar instead of browning and again it came out perfect not as black which is fine. I love love this recipe so easy to follow. Have you tried sorrel fruit rum cake. I made 2 batch of the cake mixture pour out my black fruit cake in baking pan then add 1 cup sorrel purée and 1 tsp ginger extract to the rest of the batter and it was amazing. Put both in oven together for 2 1/2 hrs on 250 degrees
Tanya says
Thank you for the feedback Linda! I haven't tried sorrel fruit rum cake but now I must. Sounds delicious!
Sherry says
Can you suggest how to decorate this cake for a wedding?
Tanya says
Hi Sherry, Traditionally, you would want to use royal icing and I don't yet have a recipe for it. This recipe here looks good though. https://youtu.be/iEhlvfznoJg
Sherry says
@Tanya, thank you!
Termekia says
Hi tanya may i ask what type of browning should be used?
Tanya says
Hi Termekia, I use the Grace Browning. There is a link to the kind I use if you click the word "browning" in the recipe card.
Sandra says
Can this recipe be made without the burnt sugar or browned butter? I would like to make this tonight but do not have those two items.
Tanya says
Hi Sandra, the browning and burnt sugar both help with the color of the cake. Leaving them out will still make a tasty cake, but it won't have the exact same texture, color, or taste as traditional Black cakes.
Marcia says
I tried many black cake recipes that produced unsatisfactory results. This Christmas I was determined to make a successful black cake,and I read through many recipes.
THIS recipe facilitated my success.
Thanks Tanya. This will be my go to black cake recipe.
Tanya says
Thanks so much Marcia! So glad you liked the recipe 🙂
Waiting Excitedly says
Hi, looking forward to trying this. However, how can I triple the recipe?
Tanya says
Hi, Unfortunately, I haven't tested with tripling the recipe for larger batches.
Tracie says
What is red dessert wine?
Tanya says
Any sweet dessert wine that is red. I used Manischewitz Concord Grape wine.
Mark Anthony Locklear says
I used this recipie last year and I’m officially the Black cake maker of the family nowZ so gald I found this.
Hilary says
i lost my black cake recipe from years ago and so glad i found this one. Absolutely awesome recipe. Turned out great.
i work nights and because of my schedule, i had to make the cake on night of 12/20 in preparation for Christmas Day. Will they keep at room temp for 5 days or do i need to refrigerate them. Will that dry them out or ruin the texture?
Tanya says
Hi Hilary, thank you! Yes, you can keep the cake at room temperature for 5 days and they will be fine.
Denise Wilmot says
I stumbled on this recipe on Google and what a great surprise. I tried it as recommended with a few small changes. Added less brown sugar and included white for a sweeter cake. My family is raving about it. It has a really well balanced flavor. Thank you so much.
Tanya says
Thanks for the feedback Denise! So glad you all enjoyed it 🙂
Christina Knorr says
What else can I use burnt sugar for? Thank you for sharing
Tanya says
Hey Christina! Great question. Cocktails for sure are a good use for burnt sugar. I'm planning on testing it with other baked goods in the future.