‘You had me at rum cake!’ A Caribbean holiday tradition takes over Broward

Which Caribbean country has the best rum cake? What about the best black cake? At the Rum Cake and Caribbean Black Cake Fest, there’s only one way to find out: sample them all.

Island SPACE Caribbean Museum is hosting its fourth annual cake fest Sunday afternoon at the Volunteer Park Community Center in Plantation. Visitors will be able to taste rum cake and black cake from across the Caribbean.

“Once you say rum cake, everybody’s face lights up,” said Calibe Thompson, the Island SPACE executive director. “You had me at rum cake!”

A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Hurricane Melissa relief efforts, and visitors can drop off items like nonperishable food to donate at the event, Thompson said. The fest comes just weeks after the Category 5 hurricane devastated Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean. Island SPACE is also accepting donations at the museum.

“The diaspora is out in force right now, but we know that over time, people start to forget about things. And as traumatizing as it has been for us to look and see what’s happening, it is so much more traumatizing for the folks on the ground,” said Thompson, who is Jamaican. “So we’re going to encourage everyone to keep it front of mind.”

This year’s fest is an opportunity for South Florida’s prominent and proud Caribbean community to come together, help those in need and celebrate their diverse cultures, she said. After hosting the event at the museum’s Broward Mall location in previous years, this weekend’s event will be held at a new, larger location to accommodate for the fest’s growth. Attendance jumped from 50 people its first year to 300 the following year. The event is done in partnership with Finiana Joseph of Caribbean Professionals Network.

The fest falls on an important day this year, too. The museum is also celebrating its fifth anniversary and the launch of its capital campaign to purchase or build its own independent space.

“As the only Caribbean heritage museum in the world, it’s important to us that we are not just doing things that bring people into the museum, but bringing our culture outside as well,” Thompson said.

‘Never-ending well of flavors’

The Caribbean is diverse, and so are its rum-infused cakes. Usually enjoyed during the holidays or special occasions, rum cakes and black cakes are similar, but distinct. Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands, like Puerto Rico, are more familiar with rum cake, which is typically made with a yellow cake base, baked in a bundt pan and soaked in rum syrup. Black cake, more common in English-speaking Caribbean countries like Jamaica, is a dense fruitcake made from rum-soaked fruits, molasses, warm spices and port wine.

At the cake fest, 15 bakers from 15 Caribbean cultures will show off their unique flavors and recipes. The event will also feature a Caribbean holiday market for gift shopping, a premium rum sampling experience, a Caribbean food court, a mocktail bar and traditional Caribbean entertainment, like Jamaican and Bahamian Junkanoo performances and Latin music.

Black cake brings up fond Christmas-time memories for Thompson. Her family, who calls the cake Christmas Pudding, would soak fruits in a jar for a full year, topping it off with more fruits and rum to create a “never-ending well of flavors,” she said.

“I lost my mother last year. Every time I think about it or think about tasting it, I remember making it with her,” Thompson said. “She eventually stopped making it, so I was making it. And then she was just eating and enjoying.”

Baker Jamal Lake, representing the U.S. Virgin Islands at the fest, also has special memories associated with black cake.

As a young baker in high school in St. Croix, Lake wanted to know the secret to the perfect black cake. He asked one lady he knew who sold baked goods, and she told him what to do. He went home, grabbed his mom’s jar of fruits that had been soaking for who knows how long and baked “the best black cake I’ve ever had,” he said. Lake has never been able to exactly recreate that first black cake, which was so delicious, his friends still talk about it years later.

But the black cake Lake makes today at Ganache, his West Palm Beach bakery, has plenty of fans. His bakery’s rum and black cakes are the bestsellers, especially during the holidays. Lake uses five-gallon buckets to soak his fruits to keep up with demand.

Though the fest isn’t a competition, it’s a big win for local bakeries, Lake said. Ganache gets exposed to new costumers from across South Florida, and Lake gets to connect with fellow Caribbean bakers.

At the fest, Lake is offering several rum cake flavors, all made with Cruzan Rum: pumpkin spice, coconut, chocolate with Irish cream and vanilla and original with walnuts. And he’s serving his Virgin Island-style black cake, but made with Jamaican rum as a nod to his Jamaican wife. “I let her get a piece in there,” he said.

What’s Lake’s special ingredient? “A little extra love.”

If you go:

What: Rum Cake and Caribbean Black Cake Fest

Where: Volunteer Park Community Center, 12050 West Sunrise Blvd., Plantation

When: 2-6 p.m. Nov. 16

Tickets: $25 pre-sale tickets available online at islandspacefl.org/cakefest25. $30 tickets at the door.

Info: Proceeds from the event will benefit Hurricane Melissa survivors. Guests can drop off items to donate at the event.

This story was originally published November 14, 2025 at 4:30 AM.