Jamaican Rum Cake

I have been lucky to try some Jamaican Rum Cake brought from Jamaica so I decided if I could make it myself. I found some recipes online like this (my main source) and this.

Ingredients:

  • 200g butter at room temperature + a bit for greasing
  • 1 cup of brown sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tbsp lime zest
  • 1 cup of blended fruits: raisins, cherries, mixed fruit, etc. Pre-soak the fruits earlier with water and a bit of white rum.
  • 1 tsp vanilla paste
  • 1 tbsp almond liquor
  • 1/4 cup of white rum + a bit for brushing
  • 1/2 cup of Port wine (I dont have red label / sweet red wine)
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp mixes spice
  • 1 tbsp gratted nutmeg
  • 1.5 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 3 tbsp black treacle (I dont have “browning liquid”)

Process:

  • Pre-heat oven at 180C. Grease a cake tin.
  • Cream butter and brown sugar in a bowl. Use a wooden spoon initially and then you can use this whisk. The video use an electric whisker but I think I managed a decent mixture. You want something creamy and fluffy.
  • In another bowl, mix the eggs, lime juice and lime zest.
  • Add the egg mix to the butter mix bit by bit, whisking constantly.
  • In another bowl, mix the blended fruit, vanilla, almond liquor, rum and Port.
  • And the fruit mix to the butter/egg mix bit by bit, whisking constantly.
  • Clean one of the bowl. Add the flour, cinnamon, mixes spice, nutmeg, baking powder and bread crumbs. Mix well.
  • Add the flour to the wet mix, bit by bit and mixing constantly.
  • Finally, add the black treacle that should bit the dark color to the cake. Mix well.
  • Pour the cake mix into the tin. Shake until level.
  • Put a small bowl with water in the oven or spray with water the oven to create extra moisture.
  • Bake for 1h 15m aprox. Remove from oven only when a skewer comes out clean from the center of the cake.
  • Once you take the cake from the oven, brush it with white rum while hot.
  • Leave it cool down for 1h.

The real thing:

My thing:

To be honest, although my version doesnt look like the original one, it was tasty. I think these were my errors:

  • I didnt soak the dry fruits so they didnt blend properly. I need to find more info about how to prepare this part properly. I think this is the reason the cake is not as “dense” as the original.
  • I think I over baked it. I lost track of time and it was 1h 30m I think.
  • The black treacle doesnt give the same black color as in the video. Or I need to put more?
  • Use more water in the oven. The first video didnt use any but the second did it so I though the second version was more moist and I wanted that.
  • Although I didnt use Jamaican rum neither Jamaican red wine, the taste was good.