Flash in the Pan

According to the PR reps, it’s been over 20 years since Tortuga Caribbean Rum Cakes appeared commercially on Grand Cayman, and the company send one of the smaller (1 lb.) cakes for me to test. Well, for my family to test – my wife heard rum cake and immediately stepped between the box and me.

Our reactions were mixed. My wife loved it and compared it to her mother’s sherry cake recipe, which for her is high praise. I was less taken with it – not because of any quibbling with the quality of the product (preserved only with five-year-old rum, bless ‘em), but because of the way, to me at least, that the rum overwhelms any taste of the cake. It’s a basic problem with many liquor-infused cakes. And then we get to the question of artificial flavors. Here’s what the company web site states:

Q: Are there artificial flavorings in Tortuga Rum Cakes?
A: We use the finest natural ingredients such as fresh coconut, pineapple juice and key lime juice to create our delectable flavors of Tortuga Rum Cakes. As stated on our packaging, there is 2% or less of artificial flavor used in our cakes.

Well, 2% or less leaves a lot of room. My guess is that they use synthetic vanillin rather than vanilla extract, and when you’re talking about maybe a teaspoonful per cake, the percentage is small but the effect can be great. I think that use of real vanilla would help balance the flavor equation. However, you might well agree with my wife and be happy with one. The 1 lb. versions are $25 including shipping to the US.