Image © Leigh-Ann Martin
“My Gramma Lou was a serious woman when it came to baking, particularly cakes made for the holidays. And every year, early in the Christmas season she started her preparations. Even though I am not using her recipe nor am I making anywhere near the quantity of black cakes that my Grams made, I know she’d be proud that I’m sticking to her tradition… or, that I picked up her trait of timeliness.” – Chef LAM, Gasparillo Junction
Trinidad Black Cake
Course:
Breads, Cakes & Pastries
Cuisine:
Caribbean
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter plus more to grease the pans
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. Angostura Bitters
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp. ground all-spice
- 1 cup browning
- 3 cups rum-soaked fruit paste
Preparation
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reheat oven to 300 degrees F.
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Sift the flour, baking powder and ground spices together in a medium bowl and set aside
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Combine the 2 sticks of butter and dark brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer; beat on a medium to high speed for several minutes until light and fluffy. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl. On low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla extract, Angostura Bitters and browning, beating until well incorporated. Still on a low speed, add the fruit paste to the egg mixture.
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By hand, using a spatula fold the flour into the batter. The colour of the batter should be a dark walnut. If the color looks medium walnut, stir in more browning as needed. Divide the batter among two buttered cake pans, filling them halfway to the top.
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Bake for 1 hour or until a tester inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. Transfer the cakes, in their pans, to wire racks to cool.
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While the cakes are cooling, baste them with rum every few minutes until completely cooled and/or they cannot absorb anymore rum.
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When completely cooled, take the cakes out of the pans. The cakes are ready to serve, but will taste better if they sit for at least a few days.
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