Jamaican Fruit Cake (6 Inch Recipe)

This recipe makes a 6-inch rich Jamaican fruit cake that is perfect for Christmas, Easter or any other special occasion.

What’s is Jamaican Fruit Cake?

Jamaican fruit cake is a boozy rich cake that contains mixed fruit, red wine and rum. This cake is usually served around Easter or Christmas and is sometimes covered with marzipan and fondant. It is also commonly made into weddings cakes for Caribbean weddings. 

For this Jamaican fruit cake recipe, the fruit is soaked in the red wine and rum then blended to a purée so you end up with a smoother fruit cake with no whole pieces of fruit. The spices are what give the main flavours of this cake with the rum and port adding even more flavour.

Why Bake a 6 Inch Cake?

Every year I bake a Jamaican fruit cake for Christmas and I usually make an 8- inch or 9-inch cake. Recently, I decided to try out a 6-inch fruit cake because we never get through large cakes over Christmas. Fruit cake does last a while but when the new year arrives, I would prefer not to have too much cake laying around to tempt me. Making a 6-inch cake is perfect as it is just enough for my family and any guests that may visit over the Christmas period. 6-inch cakes are also perfect for gifting.

Pre-soaking the Fruit

Before any baking is done, I soak the fruit in dark rum and ruby port for 5 – 7 days. This helps to soften and plump the fruit. It also produces a rich flavoured cake.

Feed the Cake

Once this fruit cake is baked, you can feed it to mature the flavours though this is optional. You can feed the cake once a week to every fortnight with brandy, rum, whiskey or amaretto. Feeding the cake keeps it moist and gives the cake extra flavour. You can feed it up to 4 times but I usually feed it around 3 times. Do not overfeed your cake as it will make it wet and stodgy.

Icing the Cake

Icing this rich fruit cake is optional, sometime I do, sometimes I don't but this cake taste great either way. The process involves, covering the Jamaican fruit cake with marzipan and fondant before cutting Christmas shapes and attaching them to the cake. You can use any type of Christmas cutters you want but I use a star and snowflake cutter.

Another thing to note is that you need to leave 24 hours between covering the cake with marzipan and fondant icing to ensure they both stick properly then you need to allow another 24 hours before cutting the cake.

Ingredients for Jamaican Fruit Cake

Please find the full list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of the post. 

Soaking Fruit

• Dried fruit – for this Jamaican fruit cake recipe, I use a combination of dried mixed fruit, dried cranberries and glace cherries.
• Rum – I use dark rum but you can use any rum or you can use brandy.
• Ruby port – or any sweet red wine.

For the Cake

• Flour – for this Jamaican fruit cake recipe, I use self-raising flour.
• Ground almond – gives the cake a nutty flavour.
• Bicarbonate soda – works with the self-raising flour to help the cakes rise.
• Salt – I use sea salt.
• Spices – use ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon and mixed spices for this Jamaican fruit cake recipe.
• Eggs – use medium room temperature eggs.
• Black treacle – or molasses.
• Evaporated milk – also known as unsweetened condensed milk.
• Vanilla – use good quality vanilla extract or bean paste.
• Lemon juice – squeezed from a fresh lemon.
• Butter – use unsalted butter.
• Sugar – I use dark brown sugar for a richer flavour.

For the Icing

• Apricot jam – use apricot jam to help the marzipan stick to the cake and to help the fondant stick to the marzipan.
• Water – a little water to help loosen the apricot jam.
• Marzipan – use ready prepared marzipan.
• Icing sugar - to prevent the marzipan and fondant sticking to the surface.
• Fondant – I use ready to roll fondant. You’ll need fondant for the cake and a little extra to cut shapes to stick on the cake.
• Silver balls – or silver pearls

How to Make Jamaican Fruit Cake

Soaking the Fruit

1. Add the dried mixed fruit, glace cherries and dried cranberries to a medium sized jar or bowl then pour in the dark rum and ruby port. Cover with a lid or clingfilm and allow to soak for 5 – 6 days.

Making the Cake

2. Preheat the oven to gas mark 1/275^oF/140^oC/120^oC fan and line a 6-inch/15cm round cake tin with parchment paper. Ensure the tin is as least 3 inches deep. Set the tin aside.

3. Add the soaked dried fruit with the alcohol to a blender and blend for a few seconds to slightly break down the fruit. You don’t want it fully pureed as you want small pieces of fruit. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

4. To a medium sized bowl, add the self-raising flour, ground almonds, bicarbonate soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and mixed spices. Mix them together and set aside.

5. To another bowl, add and combine the eggs, black treacle, evaporated milk, vanilla extract and lemon juice and whisk until smooth and the black treacle has dissolved then also set aside.

6. To a mixing bowl, add the butter and dark brown sugar then cream until paler in colour and fluffy. Gradually add the egg mixture, mixing between each addition then gradually add the dry ingredients, also mixing between each addition. Gently fold in the blended fruit ensuring you don’t over mix.

Bake the Cake

7. Transfer the cake mixture to the lined tin then bake in the lower centre part of the oven for 3 hours 30 minutes. After this time, check the cake using a cake tester or skewer and if the cake is not ready, return it to the oven and check every 10 minutes until the tester comes out clean.

8. Place the cake tin on a wire rack to cool. After 30 minutes, carefully remove the cake from the tin and allow to completely cool on the wire rack. Once completely cooled, give the cake the first feed by spooning over 3 tablespoon of rum or brandy. Wrap the cake in cling film and store in a tin until you're ready to eat, feed again or decorate.

Icing the Cake

Marzipan layer 

1. Unwrap your fruit cake and carefully place on a cake board. Prepare your cake by using a serrated knife to slice off the top layer and create a flat surface.

2. To a small saucepan, add the apricot jam and the water then mix on a medium heat until the jam dissolves and the mixture becomes smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool then use a pastry brush and brush the whole cake with the dissolved jam.

3. Using your hands, shape the marzipan into a disk shape then sprinkle some icing sugar on a clean surface and roll out the marzipan to just under 1 cm in thickness and enough to cover the cake.

4. Fold the marzipan over the top of your rolling pin and place the marzipan over the cake. Use your hand to smooth the marzipan over the cake then trim off the excess marzipan using a small knife. Place the cake in a cake box and allow to dry for 24 hours.

Fondant layer 

5. Repeat the process of dissolving the apricot jam with the water then brush the surface of the marzipan with the cooled apricot jam mixture. Using your hands, shape the fondant into a disk and roll out the fondant until it is enough to cover the cake with some excess.

6. Fold the fondant over the top of your rolling pin and place the fondant over the marzipan. Use your hand to smooth the fondant over the cake then use an icing smoother to finish off smoothing the cake. Trim off the excess fondant using a small knife and set the cake aside.

Decorating

7. Roll out the fondant to your desired thickness and using your cutters, cut your desired shapes for your cake. Make sure they are not too thin or they will break when you lift them.

8. Using your pastry brush, brush some apricot jam on the back of each piece of cut out fondant before sticking to your fondant layer. Once your have stuck down your shapes, you can finish of the cake with the silver balls. Place in a cake box and allow to dry for 24 hours before serving.

Recipe Tips 

• For this recipe, ensure your 6 inch baking tin is at least 3 inches deep.
• Feeding this cake at least once is recommended. The flavour and texture of this cake improves with time.
• If icing the cake with fondant, ice a few days after the last feed.
• You will need to leave 24 hours between covering with marzipan and covering with fondant.
• Be very careful when working with the rolled-out marzipan and fondant. When lifting them to place over the cake, they can sometimes tear. To avoid this, try not to roll them out to thinly. They need to have some structure to hold up and not rip.
• If you follow the above tips and it still tears then carry on the process and once you have laid the marzipan or fondant, you can use your fingers to repair the tear by pushing the gap in the tear together. Most ready to roll icing are soft enough to easily do this. Once you close the tear, you can then use an icing smoother to smooth over the repair to smooth it out further.
• Remember you will be adding the cut out icing so you can place your cut out shapes in areas that have teared.

Nutrition

Based on 1 serving without icing - Calories: 311kcal | Fat: 12.6g | Saturates: 6.1g | Carbs: 35.0g | Sugar: 26.2g | Fibre: 1.4g | Protein: 4.3g | Salt: 0.32g.

Storage

Wrap this Jamaican Christmas fruit cake in clingfilm and store in a tin at room temperature.

The cake can last around 6 weeks after the last feeding.

If freezing the cake, ensure you finish the feeding process first then wrap the cake in clingfilm and store in the freezer. Fruit cake can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months. It can last longer but I usually only go up to 6 months.

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