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DISH RESEARCH · Dessert

Bajan Black Cake

Rum-soaked fruit cake with spices, browning and optional icing.

Bajan Black Cake — illustrative food image

About Bajan Black Cake

Rita G. Springer’s black cake appears in a Barbados Christmas feature as a traditional celebration cake. Raisins, currants, prunes, mixed peel and glacé cherries form its fruit-rich base.

Rum and port accompany brown sugar, nutmeg, cloves and powdered spice. Vanilla and almond essences add aroma, while butter and eggs enrich the cake and browning contributes its dark colour.

The baked cake absorbs a further rum-and-port mixture and rests before finishing. Optional chopped nuts accompany the fruit; an optional marzipan layer and royal icing provide a decorated surface.

Allergens in this recipe

Contains: Milk, Egg.

Optional additions: Tree nuts (product-dependent or unconfirmed).

Product-dependent or unconfirmed: Almond, Wheat (gluten).

Other allergen details are unconfirmed.

Ingredients vary by restaurant. Confirm your allergens with staff before ordering.

Ingredients in Bajan Black Cake

Rita G. Springer’s Bajan Christmas black cake with port.

Ingredient details & uncertainties

Allergen information is incomplete. Unconfirmed details do not establish that an allergen is absent.

  • Raisins: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Dried grape form; no generic dried-fruit sulphites assumed.
  • Mixed peel: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Exact blend of candied peels unspecified.
  • Currants: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Dried-fruit recipe context; broader dried-currant link.
  • Brown sugar: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Both fruit and batter portions consolidated, not extra invented dosing.
  • Prunes: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed
  • Rum: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Fruit steeping and after-bake spirit mixture; divided allocations not fully specified.
  • Glacé cherries: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed
  • Chopped nuts (unspecified) (optional): Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Tree nuts unconfirmed. Optional115; no almond/pecan identities imported from generic introductory discussion101.
  • Powdered spice: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Named spice blend, full constituent formula unspecified; no cinnamon/allspice imported from generic intro.
  • Butter: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Milk source-confirmed
  • Nutmeg: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed
  • Salt: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed
  • Powdered cloves: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Broader clove link, actual powdered form.
  • Vanilla essence: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Exact essence formula unknown.
  • Almond essence: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Almond unconfirmed. Exact essence formula unknown; named flavour does not establish actual almond content.
  • Eggs: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Egg source-confirmed
  • Port wine: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Source port-or-falernum option selected consistently in batter and after-bake soak; no falernum formula union.
  • Flour: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Wheat (gluten) unconfirmed
  • Water: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Explicit fruit pre-cooking132; no inferred pan washing water.
  • Baking powder: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Exact purchased formula unknown.
  • Browning (burnt-sugar colouring): Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Source102/129/132 sugar-based browning; exact prepared formula unprovided.
  • Tin greasing medium: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. Tins explicitly greased132, but medium not named; not silently assigned listed butter.
  • Marzipan (optional): Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Almond source-confirmed. Selected marzipan option133 over almond icing; actual product formula unprovided.
  • Royal icing (optional): Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Egg unconfirmed. Part of optional decorated finish133; full icing formula not supplied.

Origins & food traditions

Countries

  • Barbados
  • BarbadosCatalogue link pending review

Cuisines & regions

AI-generated illustration of one possible presentation. Recipes and ingredients vary; the image does not establish allergen content.

Sources & references
  1. Bajan Christmas Black Cake — Rita G. Springer recipe reproduced from Caribbean Cookbook: A Lifetime of Recipes