All across the English-speaking Caribbean, the Christmas treat known as black cake is such a cherished and anticipated tradition that preparations for next year’s cake often start on New Year’s Day. That’s because one of the distinctive ingredients of this dense, spiced cake is an assortment of dried fruits — raisins, currants, prunes and citrus peel — steeped for months in a boozy bath of rum, wine and/or cherry brandy.
We spoke with Candice Goucher, professor emerita of history at Washington State University and author of “Congotay! Congotay! A Global History of Caribbean Food,” to learn more about the origins of black cake and why you can’t celebrate a legit Caribbean Christmas without it.
“Black cake itself has been described as something between an English plum pudding and a pound cake, but it’s much more than that,” says Goucher.