Tortuga Caribbean Rum Cake

World of Snacks is traveling the globe in search of the best cakes, cookies, chocolates, chips, and candy.  So far we’ve explored a total of 28 different countries. Tonight, we are moving on to lucky number 29 and maybe number 30.  Our foreign snack comes from the Island of Tortuga in Haiti! (or so it seems)

Tortuga, named by Christopher Columbus for its turtle shell shaped look, was once a popular pirate hideout.  Our snack under review today, consists of an ingredient that was very coveted by these buccaneers.  What could this ingredient be?  Of course it’s rum!  The company that manufactures this Caribbean treat has adopted the name of the Island; they are called Tortuga International Holdings.  Our snack under review is the number one souvenir export of the Cayman Islands.  For those who are good at Geography, you may wonder how a snack form Tortuga is an export of the Cayman Islands.  Well, Tortuga International Holdings operates out of several countries including the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Barbados, and the US.  Combined their state-of-the-art bakeries they produce over 10,000 cakes a day.  Our sample comes from their Barbados factory.  Let’s take a look at the Tortuga Caribbean Rum Cake.

Our Caribbean snack arrived in a hexagon box that is stylized to look as if it was printed on old paper.  The top of the box contains gold embossing that includes a rope-like boarder and gold lettering that reads “Caribbean Rum Cake.”  Above the text is a distinguished logo for the Tortuga brand.  In the center, a colored pencil drawing of a friendly looking wooden ship.  Underneath, “A taste of the islands” and a pile of gold coins.  The overall presentation reminds me personally of a cigar box.  It’s very intriguing and appears rather high-end. 

Upon opening our box contacting our Tortuga Caribbean Rum Cake we pulled out a vacuumed sealed cake.  It looked a little strange and once opened the smell was very alcohol based.  Our taste-test panel included two children and the smell was so strong it made us verify that this snack contained less than 1% alcohol.  Once the smell dispersed a little we cut it up and passed the samples around to our tasters.  It’s a good size, we had a group of 7 testers total, and we still had some left over.  The cause for the left overs was not related to the taste.  Every person involved was truly in love with this “cake from Tortuga.”  Although it’s a popular seller on cruise ships, it was all testers first experience. The cake was outrageously moist, as if it was prepared that day in our own kitchen.  The texture was perfect, firm and crumbly at the same time.  The rum flavor was pleasant and subtle, unlike the initial smell.  It really seemed to be a treat and lends itself to being a good gift item.  Overall, a very positive reception by our panel.

Will World of Snacks offer the Tortuga Caribbean Rum Cake as apart of the normal inventory offered for sale online?  It’s a definite maybe.  We are not sure when and if we will feature either of these countries as a staple in our lineup.  We may dedicate a broad Caribbean Snack section in our store, and if we do this rum cake will absolutely be included.  If you are just joining us our British Snack Store has just launched.  Every month this year we will expand our international selection of snacks by one country.  Next month we will feature US snacks exported around the world.  The month after we have yet to decide which country will be included in the expansion.  If you are searching for a foreign snacks be sure to vote for it here and help us decide. To stay up-to-date with our progress and receive special offers be sure to leave your details to the right.  Keep on snacking world!

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