Heavy Cake

Heavy cake is exactly what the name says: a starchy root vegetable, usually cassava, sweet potato, breadfruit or plantain, grated and mixed with coconut milk, sugar, spice and butter, poured into a pan and baked long and slow until it sets dense and dark with a caramelised top. It is not light and it is not meant to be. Traditionally it was baked in a caboose oven, an outdoor stone oven with coals on the lid, and the versions made at the Pirates Week heritage days are still cooked that way. Every Caymanian family has a preferred variety and opinions about the others.

What you actually see

• Cassava heavy cake - the most common version, dense and dark.
• The caboose oven - the outdoor stone oven used traditionally.
• The heritage day baking - made in the old way at district events.
• The varieties - sweet potato, breadfruit and plantain versions.

When to go

Year-round in bakeries, though the best is made at home and at the district heritage days during Pirates Week in November. It keeps well, which is part of why it was made.

Honest expectations

It is genuinely heavy and very sweet, and a small piece is enough. Commercial bakery versions are lighter and less interesting than the traditional ones. It is not on restaurant menus in the tourist areas. The caboose-baked version at heritage days is the one worth seeking out.

Nearby

District heritage days in November; bakeries in George Town and the districts.