Jamaican Rum Cake: A Tasty Jamaican-Inspired Fruitcake Recipe To Make! (2024)

This fun Jamaican rum cake combines the most unique flavors and takes holiday fruitcake to a tropically festive new level! There's just so much to love about this tasty cake that features rum, wine-soaked mixed peel, and dried fruits spread beautifully throughout the whole cake! The icing is optional, but topping the cake with toasted coconut rounded out the entire Caribbean appeal for me!

🤔 What Is a Jamaican Rum Cake?

A Jamaican Rum Cake is a holiday cake that is called a fruit cake, black cake, or Christmas cake in Jamaica. There are, of course, other rum cakes that are Caribbean or Jamaican style (or inspired) such as this recipe here.

A darker version of this cake, which would have a higher browning content, is called black cake. I would also add more of the port wine to the cake batter.

My Jamaican-inspired version uses both rum and port wine for soaking the fruit, however, I only added Malibu coconut rum to the cake.

These cakes are very similar to the British Christmas Cake! Jamaica was a crown colony of England, and they adapted the traditional Christmas cake to make this fabulous tropical variation!

❤️ Why This Recipe Works!

It's festive! Since this holiday cake is usually made for Christmas, it's made featuring a similar fruit combination as the classic holiday fruitcake...but it's a more fun version!

Caribbean flavors in winter! The rum and my addition of coconut to the frosting bring the tropical flavors home in the middle of our wintry cold weather!

It's actually really easy to make!

🥘 Ingredients

Ingredients For Soaking The Fruit

• Mixed Peel - I used the Old English Fruit Cake Mix from Paradise Candied Fruit - plus dried fruits like sultanas, cherries, raisins, or prunes.
• Dark Rum - Such as Wray and Nephew, Appleton Estate, Myer's Dark Rum, Bacardi, Plantation, or Captain Morgan. Use more as needed to soak the fruit.
• Port Wine (or a dark sweet wine) - I love Port wine and the rich flavor it adds, don't be shy with this when soaking your fruit blend!

Jamaican Rum Cake

• Butter - Lots of it! Set your butter out with plenty of time to soften for easy creaming with the sugar.
• Sugar - Just the right amount to make this tasty fruitcake amazing!
• Eggs - Use large eggs that have been brought to room temperature for best results and a cake that bakes more evenly.
• Baking Powder - Lightens up this flavor-packed Jamaican rum cake for a wonderful consistency!
• Mixed Spice - An amazing blend of warm spices used in British baking that is the perfect addition to this cake.
• Cinnamon & Orange Peel - A hint more flavor that pairs perfectly with the mixed spice.
• All-Purpose Flour - A baker's staple and the bulk of the cake.
• Molasses & Browning (or burnt brown sugar) - Rich and flavorful additions to make the cake complete!
• Lime (zest and juice) - Use a whole lime, zest, then juice it for the cake batter.
• Rum (dark rum or coconut rum) - More rum! Go with your favorite flavor for mixing into the batter.
• Vanilla Extract & Orange Extract - The combination of both extracts adds just a hint of more citrus flavor and highlights all of the wonderful ingredients!

🔪 Instructions

Despite the ingredient list (don't let that keep you from making this amazing cake!) this homemade fruitcake is an easy cake to make from scratch. A little planning for soaking your fruit makes a huge difference in the resulting cake, even though it can be made last-minute in a pinch.

Soak the Mixed Fruit

1. Select your rum and wine. Start with soaking your mixed fruit in rum and port wine, or a sweet wine. I like a dark rum for this stage, and the better the rum, the better the cake!
2. Select your fruit blend. In addition the Old English fruit cake mix that I'm using for my cake, I also added sultanas (golden raisins), dried cherries, and raisins to make a total of two pounds of fruit.
3. Cover and soak. Place the 2 pounds of fruit in a small to medium-size bowl and cover with 1 cup each of dark rum or overproof rum and port wine or sweet wine. Use more rum and wine to cover the fruit completely, if needed.

Rum Notes: Try to get your hands on some authentic Caribbean rum like Wray and Nephew. The brand offers exceptional dark rum and the world's top selling white overproof rum (which is a top notch choice with hints of fruit, spice, and molasses). I've never used the overproof rum for my cakes, but it is by far my favorite rum!

How Long Should I Soak My Fruitcake Fruit?

Two days, two weeks, or two months are all within reason. I have even heard of people soaking their fruit for up to a year for baking fruitcake!

However long you have available to plan your cake in advance, keep the fruit in a cool area to best soak up the alcohol. As needed, top off the soaking fruit with more rum and wine as it evaporates over time.

The night before my baking, I added a ½ cup of orange juice and 1 cup of crushed pineapple to add to my tropical fruit flavors for the Jamaican rum cake. This is optional, but very tasty!!

Make the Rum Cake Batter

1. Preheat and prepare your pan. Warm your oven to 325ºF (163ºC) and line the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Spray the pan and paper with non-stick baking spray.
2. Cream the butter and sugar. Mix the softened butter and granulated sugar together in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs. Mix in 1-2 eggs (of the 5 large eggs total) at a time to the creamed butter and sugar. With the last egg, add a tablespoon of flour and mix in at the same time.
4. Add baking powder and spices. Add 2 teaspoons baking powder, 3 teaspoons mixed spice, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon orange peel then mix to combine.
5. Add flour. Add 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour and mix until all of the flour is incorporated.
6. Add molasses and browning. Add in 2 tablespoons of molasses and 1-3 tablespoons of browning to the batter then mix until fully combined.
7. Add the soaked fruit and finish mixing. Add the drained, soaked fruit along with lime juice and zest of 1 lime, ¼ cup dark rum or coconut rum, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1 teaspoon orange extract. Mix until the fruit is evenly distributed through the batter and the batter is thick enough to hold a spoon upright.

Bake the Jamaican Christmas Cake

1. Transfer and level. Pour the cake batter into your prepared springform pan, and smooth the top.
2. Bake. Place in the center of the middle rack and bake at 325ºF (163ºC) for 1 hour 45 minutes, or until an inserted knife or cake tester comes out clean.

💭 Tips & Notes

I would soak my fruit for as long as possible.

• At a minimum, try to soak the fruit for 4-5 hours before baking your Jamaican rum cake. I've found that soaking my fruit for a month to two is perfect for my fruitcakes.

Add a pan of water to the oven while baking.

• Use an older pan (that you won't worry about if it warps) and fill it with boiling water. Place the pan on the rack below the baking Jamaican rum cake to keep the cake moist while it bakes.

🥡 Storing

You can store the baked Jamaican rum cake for up to two months if you 'feed' the cake with more rum like you would a Christmas cake. Soak the top of the cake with your rum and then seal it securely by wrapping with aluminum foil.

After serving your cake, wrap with plastic cling film and store in an airtight container. Keep refrigerated and store for up to a week.

Freezing

Wrap the cake with two layers of parchment paper and then seal securely wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum foil to freeze your Jamaican rum cake for up to 3 months. Remove from the freezer and allow to thaw at room temperature before serving or adding the icing.

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