Rum cake made with plums and raisins soaked in rum, as well as brown sugar and a bittersweet caramel called "browning". Rum cake A rum cake is a type of dessert cake which contains rum. In most of the Caribbean, rum cakes are a traditional holiday season dessert, descended from the holiday puddings (such as figgy pudding). Traditionally, dried fruit is soaked in rum for months and then added to dough prepared with sugar which has been caramelized by boiling in water. The result, also known as "black cake", is similar to a fruitcake, with a lighter texture. In Trinidad and Tobago,
Rum is also a theory that it comes from the Turkish name for Greeks, "Rum," as some of the earliest rum spirits were distilled by Greek Christians in the eastern Mediterranean. Other etymologists have mentioned the Romani word "rum", meaning "strong" or "potent". These words have been linked to the ramboozle and rumfustian, both popular British drinks in the mid-17th century. However, neither was made with rum, but rather eggs, ale, wine, sugar, and various spices. The most probable origin is as a truncated version of "rumbullion" or "rumbustion". Both words surfaced in English about the same time as rum did