Christmas · soaked for months
Jamaican rum fruit cake, baked to order
A Jamaican rum fruit cake is the other kind of Christmas cake. Most fruit cake sold in December was baked in a factory in the summer; this one is from my family's Caribbean kitchen, and the dried fruit goes into Jamaican rum and cherry brandy months ahead, drinks its fill, and gets baked into a dense, dark six inch cake close to when you actually want it. It is never iced, because a cake like this is served dark. Freshly baked rum cake cannot be rushed, and that is exactly why it is worth ordering rather than picking one off a shelf.
(the fruit has been soaking since summer. it is more patient than I am)
On sale now
Order this box
£45.00 for the whole six inch cake, which travels as its own parcel, or £23.00 for a box of four thick-cut slices of the same cake, slim enough for the letterbox. Both go by Royal Mail 1st Class anywhere in the UK, or by DPD next day to mainland UK: you choose the carrier and the day at checkout, where the postage is priced. Add a message at the checkout and it is hand-written onto a card in the box, with never an invoice inside a gift.
Jamaican Rum Fruit Cake
Order online
£45.00 whole cake
Jamaican Rum Fruit Cake Slices£23.00 per box of 4 slices
Order online
£23.00 per box of 4 slices
How it works
One cake, done properly
There is no list of variations here on purpose. It is one recipe from the same generational line as everything else in this kitchen, one size, a six inch cake, and it is never iced.
£45.00 for the whole cake and £23.00 for the box of four slices, posted by Royal Mail 1st Class anywhere in the UK, or by DPD next day to mainland UK, with the postage priced at checkout.
On the Christmas menu
Ordering one for Christmas 2026
Christmas orders open on 1 October, for collection in Peterborough or posted from 1 November. The whole cake travels as its own parcel, and the box of four slices is slim enough for your letterbox. Both go by Royal Mail 1st Class anywhere in the UK, or by DPD next day to mainland UK: you choose the carrier and the day at checkout, where the postage is priced. The fruit is already soaking, so the earlier you order, the better your date. The whole festive list lives on the Christmas menu.
See the Christmas menuMonths in the jar before a minute in the oven
The point of a proper fruit cake is time. The dried fruit sits in rum and cherry brandy for months, swelling and softening until it stops tasting of the packet and starts tasting of the soak. Bake it too soon and the fruit sits in the crumb like gravel; give it the months and every piece cuts soft and dark all the way through. That soak is why this cake cannot be a last-minute order.
Why fresh matters for a cake famous for keeping
Fruit cake keeps beautifully, and the supermarkets lean on that hard: the one in the box may have been baked half a year before you buy it. Keeping well and being baked fresh are not the same thing. A fruit cake that comes out of the oven weeks rather than months before Christmas still has its moisture and the full voice of the rum, and it will still keep for the whole season once it is yours.
Never iced, on purpose
A Jamaican rum fruit cake is served dark. No marzipan, no royal icing, no snow scene: the top of this cake is the cake, glossy and deep from the soak, the way rum cake has always been cut in Caribbean kitchens. If you grew up on iced British Christmas cake, think of this as what lives underneath, given the whole stage.
The cake that suits the post better than any other
Of everything I bake, this is the cake most at home in the post: dense, moist, structurally solid, and genuinely better after a couple of days of settling. It goes on sale with the rest of the Christmas menu on 1 October, posted by Royal Mail anywhere in the UK or by DPD next day to mainland UK, whichever you choose at checkout, and the first cakes go out from 1 November. Order early: each cake's fruit was set soaking months ago, so when the soaked fruit is spoken for, that is the year's batch.
What is actually in it
Dried fruit, Jamaican rum, cherry brandy, real butter, free-range eggs and the spices a rum fruit cake has always carried. There is alcohol in the finished cake. Soaking is the whole method, and it does not vanish in the oven, so it is one to keep from the children and from anyone avoiding alcohol. Everything is baked in a registered home kitchen where all fourteen major allergens are present, and every order carries a full ingredient and allergen label.
One size, and it goes further than you think
The cake is six inches across, and fruit cake this dense is rich, so portions run smaller than a sponge: it feeds a surprising number of people in thin slices, and it keeps for the whole season once cut. Orders open 1 October and the batch is finite, because each cake's fruit was set soaking months ago. When the soaked fruit is spoken for, that is the year's batch.
Where this cake comes from, and why it is never iced: Christmas fruit cake, the Jamaican rum cake way.
Sending presents? Read my guide to letterbox Christmas gifts.
What is on the label
Every box carries a full ingredient and allergen label to UK requirements, with a best-before date on it, so you know exactly what you are eating and when to eat it by.
Everything is baked in a home kitchen where all 14 major allergens are present, including nuts. Allergens & ingredients
The other letterbox gifts
- Letterbox lemon loaf cakeThick slices of glazed lemon loaf, posted flat.
- Letterbox banana breadBanana bread with walnuts, sliced and posted flat.
- Letterbox browniesSix kinds of brownie and blondie, hand-cut.
- Letterbox treatsA bit of everything: brownies, cake and cookies in one box.
- Letterbox cookiesFive kinds, two to a box, baked to order.
Jamaican Rum Fruit Cake, answered
When can I order a Christmas fruit cake from Sploffin?
Christmas orders open on 1 October, and the last day to order is 18 December. You can collect in Peterborough, or have it posted by Royal Mail anywhere in the UK or by DPD next day to mainland UK, baked and sent from 1 November. The batch is finite because the fruit is soaked months ahead, so earlier is genuinely better.
Does the fruit cake contain alcohol?
Yes. The dried fruit is soaked for months in Jamaican rum and cherry brandy, and the alcohol does not disappear in baking. It is not a cake for children or for anyone avoiding alcohol.
Is the Jamaican rum fruit cake iced?
No, and it never will be. A Jamaican rum fruit cake is served dark, with no marzipan and no royal icing: the glossy top of the cake is the finish, the way rum cake is cut in Caribbean kitchens.
How long does a fresh fruit cake keep?
Wrapped well, through the whole season and beyond. Fruit cake is famous for it. The difference with a freshly baked one is that its keeping time is yours, rather than spent in a warehouse before you ever met it.
Can you post a Jamaican rum fruit cake?
Yes, two ways, and you choose the carrier at checkout. The whole six inch cake will not fit through a letterbox, so it travels as its own parcel: Royal Mail 1st Class anywhere in the UK, or DPD next day to mainland UK. The box of four thick-cut slices of the same cake goes by Royal Mail straight through the letterbox, anywhere in the UK, or by DPD next day to mainland UK. Postage is priced at checkout. Both sell from 1 October and are baked and sent from 1 November.
Why order a Jamaican rum fruit cake instead of buying one in a shop?
Time and freshness. A shop fruit cake is often baked months before it is sold. This one is baked to order from fruit soaked in Jamaican rum and cherry brandy since the summer, so it arrives with its moisture and its flavour intact, and every order carries a full ingredient and allergen label.
Boxes are baked to order in Peterborough and posted anywhere in the UK. If you are local and would rather collect, that is the pastries and pies side of the kitchen.