Barbadian Baking
Season’s Greetings All! I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Christmas, however you spent it! Over here in our household, we did the usual that is customary for our island… we picked down the house (interpreted as everything was in disarray in preparation for new purchases… in our case, curtains, mats, etc), put it back to rights, we baked and we ATE. Presents were unwrapped and enjoyed and movies were watched.
Speaking of eating, our menu this year was the same as most years. There was:
– Pepperpot
– Corn Pie
– Jug Jug
– Rice and green peas
– Ham
– Turkey
– Brussel sprout salad
On the baking side of things there was:
– Sweetbread (not the meats – an actual baked bread)
– Banana bread
– Great cake/ Black cake
– Plain cake/ pudding (not the jiggly custard but an ACTUAL cake)
Take a peek below:
Now, these aren’t strictly reserved for the holidays, but the Great Cake/ Black Cake is traditionally baked around Christmas time. Some people whip one up around Easter but really, it is found in most stores year round.
Every baking Barbadian has their own way of making all of the above treats and I’m going to share with you below how to make the plain cake (the smaller round tin of cake shown). You can add cherries soaked in rum, some grated coconut to turn it into coconut cake or even some pineapple rings and cherries at the bottom to turn it into a pineapple upside-down cake. This is a very versatile recipe!
If you give it a try, drop me a line in the comments and let me know!
Barbadian Plain Cake
Equipment
- 8 inch baking pan
- measuring spoons
- measuring cups
- spatula
- mixing bowls
- standing or hand mixer
Ingredients
- 6 oz sugar granulated
- 6 oz butter unsalted
- 8 oz flour all purpose, sifted
- 3 large eggs or 4 small eggs
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla essence
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8-inch round baking pan.Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should have a pale yellow look to it.
- Add the beaten eggs one at a time until well incorporated.
- Add the extract or essence and mix well.
- Sift the flour and baking powder together and add gradually to the butter/sugar/egg mixture until there are no flour clumps in the mix. But be careful – do not overmix!
- If this mixture seems a little stiff, you can add some milk to the batter to loosen it a bit as you do not want it too stiff nor too runny.
- Turn into the greased and floured pan and tap gently on your countertop to level out. Here's a tip to the dreaded dome top in your cake. Gently make a small well in the middle of your cake! Don't drill it down to the bottom of the pan, just a few inches wide and about an inch deep and voilà! No more dome top. You're welcome!
- Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean. All ovens are different so make sure that you check on your cake after the first 30 minutes.
- Once finished, allow to cook in pan for about five minutes then turn out onto cooling rack to cool completely before slicing and enjoying.