Black Cake begins with the rather startling death of Eleanor, Byron, and Benny Bennett's mother. When they heard the news of their mother's demise, Byron and Benny (who had become estranged) decided to head and deal with their parent's estate. When they arrive, they are met with a final message from their recently deceased mother, Eleanor. She leaves them two things: a traditional Caribbean black cake recipe that has been handed down over several generations and a cassette recording. The recording holds a confession of family secrets, betrayals, and revelations that the siblings were previously unaware of, which allows readers to gain some insight into the events that made the brothers who they are.
The narrative takes readers through Eleanor's past. It discusses her upbringing in the Caribbean, her relocation to the United Kingdom, and then her eventual move to California. The novel discusses her turbulent and oftentimes tumultuous relationships, which ultimately led to her estrangement from Byron and Benny. As the secrets unravel, both Byron and Benny are forced to re-evaluate their memories of their mother and confront the reasons why their own relationship became strained. In the end, the brothers make the black cake and reunite with each other, stronger than ever.
Black Cake is a novel about many things. While it is predominately about how family secrets bind people together (and tear them apart), it is also an intricate exploration of identity, cultural heritage, and the lengths people (particularly parents) go to protect their loved ones. Perhaps most importantly, though, it is a novel about memory and how it changes over time. The black cake symbolizes this: it represents not only the rich cultural history of the Caribbean but also the layers of secrets and memories within the Bennett family itself.
Wilkerson uses an inventive structure to create tension between the past and present. On one hand, the past, as told through Eleanor's recorded voice, gives readers a glimpse into the weight of the history of the family. On the other, Byron and Benny's real-time reactions to the revelations from their mother allow readers to experience the immediacy of the boy's emotion-filled discoveries. This structure underscores the idea that the past is never truly gone, thanks to technology and memories. In fact, in many ways, the past shapes how we view the present and influences how we view ourselves as human beings.
The past also explains why many people have complex relationships. Although Benny and Byron both used the past to explain how they became estranged, they remembered the past in different ways, highlighting how two individuals can experience the same events but interpret them in different ways.
