Jamaican Fruit Cake (Vegan, Gluten Free)

A delicious, super moist fruit cake also known as black cake is the quintessential Caribbean holiday cake. My take on this recipe is vegan friendly, gluten free and contains no alcohol making it perfect for children and drivers to consume throughout the holiday season or weddings.

If you are on the hunt for a fruit cake with big bold flavours then this black cake is what you need. It's totally eggless, moist and has no alcohol or gluten.

This is perfect for anyone with dietary requirements and is longing for some black cake during the holiday season.

**If you are novice/inexperienced/ first time baker PLEASE make sure you read through the ingredients/instructions thoroughly. If you need help before making the cake or unsure comment/email me first**

What is black/fruit cake?

In short, it's a cake that is eaten throughout the Caribbean region during Christmas, the New Year and at weddings (albeit with royal icing).

Although the title of the post denotes to Jamaica, it's more or less a Caribbean cake eaten by most of the English speaking islands.

It was known by various names including Christmas fruit cake, Caribbean black cake, rum cake and so fourth. Irrespective of it's name here in the Caribbean community it's all the talk as Christmas is approaching.

Traditional black cake is made from pre-soaked fruit. A combination of fruit is used and varies from person to person. Typically you will find prunes, raisins, currants, cherries, mixed peel and mixed fruit laced with wine and rum (usually the rum from that specific island).

The soaking of the fruit is BIG BUSINESS for island people some soak their fruit for years or a little as a few months. The longer the fruit is soaked for the stronger the taste in alcohol.

Once the fruit is ready to be used it is pureed to the texture that the person desires. Some people will cook off some of the alcohol before doing the aforementioned.

Then the fruit is added to your usual cake mix to make the batter (spices, eggs, flour and butter) etc...

What gives this cake that signature dark hue is the browning sauce aka caramelized sugar. If you have been following my culinary journey then you will know that browning pops up in my infamous Brown Stew Chicken, Oxtail Stew and Turkey Steaks.

It's the crucial to Jamaican cuisines although some people just make theirs as they go along with brown sugar and water.

Once the cake is baked it is glazed with just rum or a mixture of wine and rum which gives the cake more moisture with an even more alcohol edge.

The texture - let's talk!!

Many people believe that the texture and consistency of black cake is what makes or breaks it. Honestly, growing up  and having my fair share of Christmas cake I can say no cake tastes the same.

This is the one Caribbean recipe that I can think that even though the base ingredients are the same the overall outcome will vary.

Personal preference varies greatly, by that I mean some will like a more crumbly fruit cake. On the other hand, some will like a dense pudding textured cake.

Some will like a boozy cake that will leave you tipsy after a few bites while others will have a subtle taste in alcohol.

Do you see what I mean? It varies doesn't it?

I personally like a pudding texture because it's super smooth and melts in your mouth and this is what my recipe is the basis of.

I also don't care for alcohol so I'm quite relieved to leave it out just like I did with my Gluten Free Coconut Rum Cake which use rum flavouring instead.

The texture of your Jamaican fruit cake is a matter of what YOU prefer so when you make this recipe I suggest pulsing the fruit to your preferred consistency and do what works for you!

Reasons to make this cake

• It's a true taste of the Caribbean
• Contains no alcohol and vegan
• It's free from gluten
• Perfect for children, drivers, pregnant/lactating women, conflicted with an illness or abstaining.
• Great for special occasions and weddings
• It's delicious!!

How to make Jamaican fruit cake

• Grease an 8 inch spring form pan.
• Line the pan by using a pencil/pen to form a circle around the removable base and line the sides. Then set aside.
• Add all of the fruit to a medium sized saucepan along with the red grape juice and simmer on medium-low heat for 15 minutes (until most of the liquid as absorbed) then leave to cool down.
• Add the fruit to your food processor/blender and pulse until your desired texture is achieved. I like a pudding style of cake so I completely puree my fruit. Then set aside.
• Place the gluten free flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, mixed spice, baking powder and pink salt into a medium bowl and combine.

• In another medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electronic whisk/mixer until fluffy.
• Add the applesauce, pureed fruit ,browning sauce, almond essence, vanilla and whisk to form a smooth paste.
• Add the bowl of flour to the wet ingredients - adding the flour a little at a time while whisking until fully incorporated.
• Stir in your chopped dried mixed fruit if you are adding any.
• Pour the cake batter into the cake pan.
• Place some water in a large oven proof bowl to create a water bath and place this on the bottom oven shelf underneath the pan (this will help with heat distribution)
• Bake the cake on the middle shelf for around 1hr and 30 minutes if the cake is browning too much half way through baking place some foil over the top of the cake.
• Once done check the readiness by inserting a skewer or even knife. It should come out clean when done. If not return to the oven to bake for 10-15 intervals (foil covered) and repeat.
• Combine the grape juice, rum flavouring and water together in a spray bottle and spray the top of the cake.

Darkening the cake 

I'm going to address the topic of - how to darken your cake. The colour of the cake is determined by the amount of browning etc is used.

There are 2 ingredients that can give your cake the colour that you desire

• Blackstrap molasses
• Browning sauce (home or store brought)

I find that my homemade browning sauce doesn't yield a jet black cake. It will give you a dark brown cake, as I prefer a jet black cake I used a combination of my homemade and store brought sauce. 

This is only time (that I can think of) where I depended on the store brought kind because I was running low on molasses.

• For a jet black cake - 4 tbsp of homemade sauce with 4 tbsp store brought browning 
• Use 5-6 tbsp of store brought browning for a jet black cake or 3 tbsp or less for a lighter cake
• For a dark brown cake use - 6-8tbsp of my homemade browning by itself or ⅓ cup of molasses

I'm Caribbean and vegan but not gluten free, can I still make this recipe?

Yes, just use your preferred flour and it will work just fine.

Can you keep the cake vegan but add alcohol?

Yes, Just use alcohol in place of grape juice but stick to the same amount of liquid that is listed.

Is there an alternative to the browning sauce or molasses?

Yes, you can use treacle that will give you that dark hue that you need but treacle can be bitter in taste so only use a few tablespoons.

How important is the applesauce?

It's very important for structure in place of eggs, don't skip this ingredient!!

Can you freeze this cake?

Yes, make sure the cake is completely cool before attempting to freeze. You will also want to cut the cake into slices/portions, wrap it in saran/cling film or press and seal.

Wrap in aluminium foil and label the cake with the name and date of freezing and freeze for up to 3 months.

Leave to thaw out on the counter top before consuming.

Notes/tips

• I used organic cane sugar for this recipe which is sweeter than coconut sugar, but use whatever sweetener works best for you.
• 1hr and 30 minutes is a guideline for baking, sometimes black cake can take 2 hours or more to bake.
• It's normal for the cake to have a few small cracks they tend close as the cake cools down.
• Have the ingredients laid out and prepared the night before.
• Once the cake is baked and cool, store in an air tight container.
• The cake should last for several days although we eat ours within days of baking it.
• Use a mixture of fruits i.e  prunes, raisins,, currants etc....for a balanced flavour.
• When processing the fruit, you will want to pulse to YOUR preferred texture.
• I used red grape juice as my alcohol alternative but you can use non alcoholic wine.
• I used Bob Red Mills baking 1 to 1 flour, I haven't tried other gluten free flour blends so results may vary if you use a different brand.
• Don't keep opening the oven door, this will fluctuate the temperature. 
• For best results, after dowsing the cake with liquid allow to cool completely then wrap in saran/cling film to preserve the moisture.

Other Christmas recipes

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Jamaican Fruit Cake (Vegan, Gluten free)

A delicious, super moist fruit cake also known as black cake is the quintessential Caribbean holiday cake. My take on this recipe is vegan friendly, gluten free and contains no alcohol making it perfect for children and drivers to consume throughout the holiday season or weddings.

5 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Caribbean

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Servings: 8 people

Author: Charla

Ingredients

Fruit Mix

• ▢ 2½ cups Dried mixed fruit (Cherries, mixed fruit, raisins prunes) (592g)
• ▢ 1 cups Red grape juice (236ml)

Cake Batter

• ▢ 2 cups Gluten free flour (272g)
• ▢ ½ cup Dairy free butter (106g) must be room temperature!!
• ▢ 1 cup Cane sugar (200g)
• ▢ 1 tsp Cinnamon
• ▢ 1 tsp Nutmeg
• ▢ ½ tsp Mixed spice
• ▢ 2 tsp Almond essence
• ▢ 2 tsp Vanilla
• ▢ ½ tsp Baking powder
• ▢ Browning/molasses see the notes
• ▢ ¼ tsp Pink salt
• ▢ 1 cup applesauce (244g)
• ▢ ½ cup chopped dried fruit (20g) optional

Soaking liquid

• ▢ ½ cup warm water (118ml)
• ▢ ½ cup Red grape juice (118ml)
• ▢ 1-2 tbsp rum flavouring/essence optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat the oven 150c/302f/gas mark 2 (this isn't a mistake!!)
• Grease an 8 inch spring form pan
• Line the pan by using a pencil/pen to form a circle around the removable base and line the sides. Then set aside.

For the mix fruit

• Add all of the fruit to a medium sized saucepan along with the red grape juice and simmer on medium-low heat for 15 minutes (until most of the liquid as absorbed) then leave to cool down.
• Add the fruit to your food processor/blender and pulse until your desired texture is achieved. I like a pudding style of cake so I completely puree my fruit. Then set aside.

For the cake batter

• Place the gluten free flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, mixed spice, baking powder and pink salt into a medium bowl and combine.
• In another medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electronic whisk/mixer until fluffy.
• Add the applesauce, pureed fruit ,browning sauce, almond essence, vanilla and whisk to form a smooth paste.
• Add the bowl of flour to the wet ingredients - adding the flour a little at a time while whisking until fully incorporated.
• Stir in your chopped dried mixed fruit if you are adding any.
• Pour the cake batter into the cake pan.
• Place some water in a large oven proof bowl to create a water bath and place this on the bottom oven shelf underneath the pan (this will help with heat distribution)
• Bake the cake on the middle shelf for around 1hr and 30 minutes if the cake is browning too much half way through baking place some foil over the top of the cake.
• Once done check the readiness by inserting a skewer or even knife. It should come out clean when done. If not return to the oven to bake for 10-15 intervals (foil covered) and repeat.

For the soaking liquid

• Combine the grape juice, rum flavouring and water together in a spray bottle and spray the top of the cake.
• Allow the cake to completely cool (preferably overnight) before slicing (you can spray more liquid once the cake is cool).

Notes

• I used organic cane sugar for this recipe which is sweeter than coconut sugar, but use whatever sweetener works best for you.
• 1hr and 30 minutes is a guideline for baking, sometimes black cake can take 2 hours or more to bake.
• It's normal for the cake to have a few small cracks they tend close as the cake cools down.
• Have the ingredients laid out and prepared the night before.
• Once the cake is baked and cool, store in an air tight container.
• The cake should last for several days although we eat ours within days of baking it.
• Use a mixture of fruits i.e  prunes, raisins,, currants etc....for a balanced flavour.
• When processing the fruit, you will want to pulse to YOUR preferred texture.
• I used red grape juice as my alcohol alternative but you can use non alcoholic wine.
• I used Bob Red Mills baking 1 to 1 flour, I haven't tried other gluten free flour blends so results may vary if you use a different brand.
• Don't keep opening the oven door, this will fluctuate the temperature. 
• For best results, after dowsing the cake with liquid allow to cool completely then wrap in saran/cling film to preserve the moisture.

Darkening the cake

• For a jet black cake - 4 tbsp of homemade sauce with 4 tbsp store brought browning 
• Use 5-6 tbsp of store brought browning for a jet black cake or 3 tbsp or less for lighter cake
• For a dark brown cake use - 6-8tbsp of my homemade browning by itself or ⅓ cup of molasses

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