After the death of their mother, Eleanor Bennett, Eleanor's children, Byron and Benny, come together after years of estrangement to sort through what remains of their mother's life and estate. They broke away from each other many years ago because of increasing tensions between the two. They begin to fight soon after seeing each other for the first time in years.
However, they're soon distracted by a mysterious handwritten recipe for a Caribbean dessert called Black Cake. The recipe is presumably left by her mother, who also left the two boys a recording. In the recording, their mother asks her children to bake the cake together and share its long and storied history with everyone who will listen. The cake is symbolic of their familial bond and history.
The brothers know nothing about the recipe. They don't know where it came from and why their mother was so fond of it. Nevertheless, they know that there is a story having to do with their family associated with it. Through a series of flashbacks, the story transports readers to various points in Eleanor's life, revealing her journey from the Caribbean to England and eventually to the West Coast of the United States. As a young woman in the Caribbean, the novel shows the kinds of challenges that Eleanor faced because of her racial identity. Along the way, she experiences heart-wrenching love affairs, betrayals, and other emotional turmoil that scarred her for life.
As the boys dig deeper into their mother's history and the history of their family, they discover that their mother had an undisclosed affair. The boys start to wonder who their true parents are and where they fall in the family structure, given the revelation. There are also hidden identities to grapple with—people from Eleanor's past who aren't who they claim to be, which further complicates the siblings' understanding of their lineage.
As the boys learn more about their mother's life, they start to think differently about their mother. Ultimately, she realized that she wasn't just their mother; she was a complicated woman who lived a complex and sometimes difficult life. Because of this, the siblings are forced to confront their mother's painful past (and their own past). However, their shared journey fosters understanding, compassion, and reconciliation between them.
By the end, the Black Cake becomes more than just a dessert. It becomes a symbol of their reunification, their family's history, their mother's legacy, the way that secrets can define a family, and the way that death brings two people together again. In the end, the boys bake and share the cake together, just as their mother wished, giving them closure.
