It occurred to me the other day that I have never shared my-first-day-of-Summer tradition with you, which is shameful, because my first-day-of-Summer tradition is really, at it’s heart, a Christmas tradition, and Christmas is all about sharing. See? Shameful!
One of the highlights of the holiday season for me is making Black Cake, a rich, run-flavored, fruit-studded cake unlike any you’ve ever tasted, unless you are from the Caribbean, where the Black Cake is king. Although they both contain dried and glaceed fruit and booze, comparing Black Cake and Fruit Cake is like comparing apples to elephants. Black Cake is complex and unctuous and wonderful- pretty much everything fruit cake isn’t.
There are a handful of Black Cake recipes out there but the one I always come back to is Laurie Colwin’s. [Bunny trail: if you haven't read Laurie Colwin's food writing you must. Laurie was a novelist who wrote a column for Gourmet Magazine before she died very suddenly at 48. Her food writing is intimate, genuine, and curious. Her influence on the food writers of today is immeasurable.] I have fiddled with the recipe a little here and there, but at it’s heart, my Black Cake is Laurie’s Black Cake.
You are probably asking yourself why we are talking about Christmas cake today. I thought you’d never ask. The secret to a good Black Cake is soaking the dried fruit in booze for as long as possible before incorporating it into the cake. Some recipes will tell you that you can soak the fruit for as little as two weeks, but I prefer a six month marination, minimum. And since I some times forget to start my fruit in July, I’ve adopted the first day of Summer as my official kick-off to the Christmas baking season.
Since a startling number of people have never baked a cake from scratch, I thought it would be fun to have a Juniper Moon Farm Bake-a-Long. We can all do it together and remove even the faintest hint of intimidation from the project. So what do you say? Are you in? All you have to do is follow the instructions below some time in the next week or so. We’ll pick up the recipe the first week in December and go from there.
Today we will get started by introducing our fruit to our booze. I ordered all my fruits from Nuts Online for about 1/4 the price I would have paid locally. Or, you can make your own glaceed fruits, but what a PITA!
This recipe will make TWO cakes- one for your family and one to give. Or two for your family- that’s your business. Here’s what you’ll need:
4 pounds of dried and/or glacee fruit of your choice. Traditionally, one pound each of raisins, pitted prunes, currants and glacee cherries. But this is YOUR Black Cake and you can whatever dried or glaceed fruits you prefer.
12 ounces of candied citrus peel- orange, lemon or a mix of both. I used Glazed Diced Citron because candied peel makes me wretch.
6 ounces crystallized ginger- this is one of my own twists on the original recipe.
1 750 ml bottle of Dark Spiced Rum- the “spiced” is my own addition. I think is adds a subtle warmth to the cake. Cheapest you can find.
1 750 ml bottle Concord Grape Passover Wine or, in the very likely event that you can’t find Passover wine in June, 750 ml of Maderia.
You will also need a large crock, glass jar or tupperware container that you won’t need again till after Christmas, and a long handled spoon.
Dump the fruit into the jar, or, if you are a weirdo like me, carefully layer each fruit so it looks pretty.
See? Pretty.
Pour the spiced rum and wine over the fruit. Fruit, meet booze. Booze, fruit.
[Note the price tag on the Passover wine: $4.49. Much cheaper than Maderia!]
Stir everything together well, messing up your lovely layering. Remind yourself that YOU saw how pretty it was, and that counts for something. Cover tightly with a lid and tuck into the back of your pantry until December.
For those of you who CAN’T WAIT to find out what we’ll be doing next in the Cake-a-Long, the recipe we will be following is basically this one, with a few itsy-bitsy, not worth-mentioning changes.
Questions? Ask them in the comments section.
{ 26 comments }
You crack me up.
The only thing I’m marinating now is the limoncello and the vanilla extract. I’m gonna retweet this post, and point out to my friends they need to start their Xmas knitting!
I love this idea. I had fruit cake ONCE that was so delish, you know how it goes, you never see it again. I actually can’t even remember, it may have been something I actually BAKED… sad… Yes, I am in with this too. Please tell, what’s the max temperature we can store this at? I don’t run the a/c 24/7 (but will be making a chest refrigerator soon, so will have lots of room in there…) Thanks.
This is so cool! I always look for a Christmas project to share with family & friends. Last year I started vanilla extract in July and ordered nice bottles & came up with a label. This year, I’ll use the same label but join you in the cake baking! I’m so excited to have a project. Have you baked this as smaller loaves?
I’m in! I’ll see what I can do this week.
Yeah, I’m going to need to sample this cake before making it myself. I love you Susie, but I cannot fathom this tasting good. But then, I don’t like raisins in my carrot cake.
How big does the crock really need to be? I’ve got a 4 or 5-qt crock from a long-gone crockpot, and it would be so wonderful to think I really DID save it for a reason!
the ginger is genius. And there’s enough of it too to make a statement. Double genius.
but no cake with liquor-soaked fruit can rise up with self-respect unless it’s got candied pineapple. Rounds cut into chunks. Fairly small chunks, they will have a distinct tart flavour in the future cake. One wants to bite into a small taste no bigger than a glacé cherry, not a large cube the size of a marshmallow.
Quinn, that should work just fine. As long as your fruit fits and you can put the lid on, it’ll work.
Erin, you need to know that I LOATHE raisins. LOATHE may not even be a strong enough word. You won’t even know they are there once the cake is finished.
Fran, room temp is better. Just tuck the crock in to the back of your cupboard or pantry.
Yum! My step grandmother was born and raised in Trinidad… she made the best fruit rum cakes and started six months early as well! We have scaled down this a bit with a 3 month soak.
GAH! Have yet to get all of last Christmas decorations put away!!!! Got lights and outdoor wreaths stuck in the back room waiting patiently……..Full disclosure – I am one of the 26 people in America who like fruitcake – not the kind from the grocery – the kind my mom makes on Labor Day – all fruity and nutty and soaked in brandy!
This reminds me of the traditional colonial Great Cake. Of course the alcohol is a fantastic preserver. The 18th C. reciept calls to bake the cake (with “sweetmeats”) and then soak then entire cake in rum or brandy. IT lasts for months, and was quite a FUN and tasty experiment.
Everything about this post was just hilarious and wonderful. If I can afford booze soon, I promise to make this.
Also? You weren’t the only one who saw your pretty layer. You took pictures! Now we all know.
What a great idea!!!!! And I love Nuts Online. Wouldn’t have thought of them for this. Don’t think I’ve ever started anything for Christmas this early.
What size are these cakes? I may need to double the recipe. Would hate to have to decide just who to give the “other” cake to if there were only two!
Sounds pretty similar to an English Christmas cake. I use Delia Smith’s recipe, and it makes a really dense, spicy, boozy cake. Definitely not for kids! We don’t soak the fruit so long ahead of time, but we make the cake weeks in advance and “feed” it brandy until Christmas….
Ironically I spent the Solstice with my dad planning out our Christmas Jam canning strategy. Strawberries, then plums, then stone fruit. Glad to hear you can’t taste the raisins, not a big fan.
I do feel sorry for everyone who mocks fruit cake, because it just means you’ve haven’t had a good one
You guys should taste the raisins this lady sells at our farmers market. It’s a medley of regular, golden and red raisins, and they are big, soft, plump and juicy–totally AMAZING and delicious. They might even convert you. That said, I am one of the other 26 fruitcake fanciers in N. America–I wonder if we all read this blog–that would be weird.
I am SO in on this-I am giddy to try this with you! Thanks for the invitation!
This sounds awesome, and Bill LOVES fruitcake. I’m going to make this for him.
Do you add the glazed ginger to the booze mixture, too, or just the fruit?
Yes! A Cake-a-long! I have make cake from scratch many times. They are often very tasty, but always quite ugly. I can’t wait. Practice can only improve their appearance even if it doesn’t improve my waist line.
This looks great. Question: do you chop up the prunes or do they go in the cake whole?
Thanks!
I’m going for this!! My husband is a big lover of fruit cake and he is all about trying this recipe…Is there any way that nuts could go into this cake? Maybe before baking?
Caught sight of the stewing fruit in my dark closet ! When do we make the cake and how do we store it ? I’m thinking of mailing a small one to Vermont friends who are familiar with Jamacan Black Cakes and can’t wait! Marcia
Marcia, we’ll get started this week!