Old Fashioned Blackberry Jam Cake

A few months back I tasted the best cake I have ever had! David's aunt made a cake for a family birthday and it was divine! The cake? Old fashioned Blackberry Jam Cake with Carmel Frosting! I don't have the exact recipe she used, but I was able to find a few online. I have been waiting to make it as cooking/baking has not been my favorite pastime as of late, but David's birthday seemed like a fitting occasion to finally make it! The cake is the perfect density and the cake itself is not very sweet, so it pairs wonderfully with the rich carmel frosting. Serve with Vanilla Bean ice cream. Yum! Please make it and let me know what you think!

Old Fashioned Blackberry Jam Cake:

1 cup softened butter
2 cups sugar
4 beaten egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup seedless blackberry jam
4 egg whites, beaten till stiff but not dry

Cream butter and sugar; add eggs and vanilla. Sift all dry ingredients together. Add alternately to butter mixture with buttermilk. Stir in jam, mixing thoroughly. Fold in egg whites. Pour into buttered and floured tube or bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Increase heat to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes before removing from pan.

A few changes to the recipe: I made mine in 9" cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Also, this recipe doesn't call for nuts and raisins, but they are a definitive must the next time I make this (there are recipes that call for them and I completely forgot).


Carmel Frosting:
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp milk
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla



BTW... I made a potato salad (my mom's classic) for his birthday dinner as it is his favorite and I was reminded of a cool trick my Nanny taught me some years back. She is so wise about so many things! She reserves the water from her boiled eggs as it is rich in calcium to water her house plants with (after it has cooled). Here is an interesting article to confirm what she taught me. I'll have to do a post sometime featuring "tips from Nanny".