Simply Marvia

Jamaican Christmas Fruit Cake


There are many Jamaican Christmas traditions that I love, but one that I just can’t live without is the Jamaican Fruit Cake. This fruit cake is a dense cake filled with mixed fruits, currants and a lot of alcohol. I bake this fruit cake every year. When you smell this rich cake, you know it is Christmas.

This fruit cake is best served with Sorrel. It is a combination that is truly Jamaican. You, however, can serve it with Hot Cocoa, coffee, or any other beverage you desire.

This is a recipe is live and die by, it always produces excellent results. Go ahead, try it, it will become one of your Christmas traditions:

Ingredients

1 lb. Butter
3/4 lb. dark Sugar
10 Eggs
1 teaspoon Almond Essence
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 teaspoon Rose Water (Optional)
1 lb. Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 tablespoons Mixed Spice (NOT Allspice!)
2 tablespoons Cinnamon
Browning (Optional)
Sherry

Fruits

2 lbs. Raisins
1/2 lb. Prunes
1/2 lb. Dates
1 lb. Mixed Fruit.
Red wine to soak fruits
6 tablespoons Jamaican white rum

1/2 lb. Cherries–You can choose whether to soak the cherries. If you want the cherries to add color to your cake, do not soak, add at the time of baking.

Soak fruits in advance for as long as possible (up to a year) to give the cake more texture and body. But if you need it quickly, you can still get a nice cake the same day that it is soaked!

 Method

Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

  • Line the sides and bottom of two 9″ baking pans with a double layer of greaseproof paper and set aside.
  • Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Add eggs 2 at the time creaming after each addition. After adding the eggs, you will have to move the butter, sugar and egg mixture to a larger bowl and prepare to do the balance of the recipe by hand.
  • Add vanilla and almond essence to the butter and sugar mixture.
  • If you use browning, pour a very small amount in mixture and stir. Note: Be very careful with browning! It makes your cake too dark!
  • Add baking powder, mixed spice and cinnamon to the flour.
  • Pour butter and egg mixture into a larger bowl.
  • Add flour mixture to butter mixture by folding it in.
  • Continuously add flour mixture to butter mixture.
  • Grind soaked fruits with a blender or food processor, add to flour/egg mixture and thoroughly fold it in.
  • Add cut-up cherries to mixture. Leave a few cherries for decorating top of cake.
  • Pour mixture in the 2 lined 9″ baking pans.
  • Bake in pre-heated oven until done. Use a knife to test readiness, etc. The knife should come out clean.
  • Stick cakes all over with a toothpick. Sprinkle sherry or wine over hot baked cakes.

This cake is very versatile. It can be iced with a simple vanilla icing, cream cheese icing, or any other icing you desire.

 Hope you enjoyed  🙂

←

17 responses to “Jamaican Christmas Fruit Cake”

  2. This cake! Soooo good especially with Sorrel but now I wanna try it with hot cocoa, sounds very delish! I think I may make this cake for myself for my birthday lol don’t want to necessarily wait till Christmas! But you are right when it reaches December and you smell this cake baking, we certainly know what time it is! Thank you for sharing the recipe!

    Like

    Reply

    • It is soooo good, i bake this cake every year and each year it taste better and better. It is also good for birthdays and weddings. i baked fruit cake cupcake for my bf’s birthday last year and it was just as good. But when its had in Christmas with sorrel, it just tastes….better!….Enjoy!

      Like

      Reply

  3. hi marvia, this sounds delicious…
    i have a few questions… when you say “mixed fruits,” what fruits would these be? like other dried fruits different than prunes, raisins and dates? (like blueberries?) and then for the cherries… would that be maraschino cherries? or dried cherries? thanks for your clarification. I want to bake this for my boyfriend for christmas time, and want to keep it authentic. somehow i feel like adding dried blueberries might mess it up.

    Like

    Reply

    • Hi Aimee,

      Thanks for your interest, I am happy to clarify. This Jamaican Fruit Cake is a savory dense cake, it requires fruits that can hold up, fruits that will keep their flavor regardless of what you add to it. ‘Mixed Fruits’ are dried fruits, dried fruits such orange and raisins etc. For prunes, i find that prunes add a great flavor but it is diuretic, it makes you go more than you would like. So if you don’t mind going to the bathroom often, go ahead and add your prunes. I am not sure about blueberries, i have never baked with it, so i am not sure if it will distort the flavor of the cake, you can do a trial run with and without the blueberries and see how each tastes. I use both dried and Maraschino cherries.

      It is an awesome cake, if done right. I hope your boyfriend loves the finished product. Happy baking 🙂

      Like

      Reply

      • I make this cake every year it’s spoon good, but bad for you waist line. Last year I thought I did not have enough fruits soaking in the wine, so I went out , and brought a pound of blueberries, and a pound of cranberry all dried. It turned out to be my best cakes ever. Every one loved it, and couldn’t stop eating it.. I bake another batch without the berries,, but it was not as flavorful. I have a batch in the oven right now I will update you on how good it is.

        Like

        Reply

        • Oh kool, i would love to hear how it turnèd out…thats the thing i like about baking, you can take a traditional recipe, put your own spin on it and make something unique, something your own.

          Like

          Reply

  4. I Marvia! I just discovered your blog while “googling” info on the Jamaican Fruit cake to share on a blog post I’m working on. Hope you won’t mind if I share the link to this post on my blog. I’m enjoying your blog so far and looking forward to coming back soon to explore your blog some more.

    Like

    Reply

    • I know its a little late, sorry for the late response….Mixed Spice is a blended spice that has spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice…It is used predominantly for baking, but it can be used in hot cocoa etc…

      Like

      Reply

    • Hello, i normally use 1 gallon of wine for the entire thing (which yields about 5 to 6 tins cake) and about 1/2 or 3/4 gal to soak the fruits. It all depends on how much fruit you have. Just ensure that the fruits are fully submerged in the wine.

      Like

      Reply

  7. I Marvia
    I will make my first Jamaicain Fruit next week. I have been soaking my fruit since October. I have prune, currants , raisins and mix peeled. I just found your recipe and want to use it. I will grind my fruit in the blender. For your cakes how many cups of grounded fruit do I need?
    Thank you for the reply
    Liette Canada

    Like

    Reply

    • What i do is to use the fruits that i have regardless of the amount i just add more flour, to hold it together, i kinda eyeball it. But i have being doing it for years so i kinda have an idea of how much is needed. Since its your first time, i suggest you follow the recipe.

      Thanks for your interest in my recipe, you wount be disappointed. It will turn out great… Happy baking

      Like

      Reply

  8. Ms. Marcia,

    I’d love to make your fruit cake. I love trying different types! I do have a question though, how long roughly would you say to bake it? Say 30 – 45 minutes or an 1 hour?

    Thank you very much! Have a very happy Holidays.

    – Katherine

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Olivia Cancel reply

Contact

About

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com