← Nouns Cooking · Caribbean

Ingredients

• 250 g pitted prunes
• 250 g Raisins
• 250 g currants or mixed dried fruit
• 150 g Glacé cherries
• 100 g Mixed candied peel
• 250 ml cherry brandy, port or sweet red wine
• 250 ml dark rum, plus 60 ml for brushing
• 225 g Butter, softened
• 200 g dark brown sugar
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 Lime, zested
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 225 g plain flour
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground allspice
• 1 pinch Salt
• 3 tbsp Browning sauce

Method

1. Blitz the dried fruit in a food processor with half the brandy and rum into a coarse paste. Stir in the rest of the liquor, seal in a jar and leave for at least 2 days (traditionally weeks or months), stirring now and then.
2. Heat the oven to 150°C (130°C fan, 300°F). Grease a 23 cm round deep cake tin and line it with a double layer of baking paper.
3. Beat the butter and sugar for 3–4 min, until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the lime zest and vanilla.
4. Sift over the flour, baking powder, spices and salt and fold in, then fold in the soaked fruit with all its liquid and the browning until the batter is evenly dark.
5. Scrape into the tin, level the top and bake for 2 hours, until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
6. While the cake is still warm, poke it all over with a skewer and brush with the extra rum. Cool in the tin, then wrap tightly and keep for a few days to mature before slicing.

Tips

• Contains alcohol that is not cooked off, plus wheat, egg and dairy. For a family version, soak the fruit in grape juice and brush with orange juice.
• Wrapped well and fed with a little rum each week, it keeps for a month or more.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

CaribbeanPot.com Taste the Islands 196 flavors Alica's Pepperpot