My friend Peter from New York and Massachusetts came to visit my mother and me in Virginia this week. His dogs Lucca and Marco enjoyed a joyous reunion with my own Truffle.
We wanted to celebrate the visit—and to mark Peter’s birthday, which took place last week.
We tried barbecue from not one but two different local venues here in Fairfax County. It left a sweet and tangy taste in our mouths, the perfect preview for the cake I whipped up for the occasion.
Peter is NOT a standard birthday-cake boy. He eschews your basic chocolate and yellow cakes.
In the past, I have made him other recipes on this blog, including Teri’s Pumpkin Cake (probably his all-time favorite in my repertoire) and Rhubarb Baked Alaska.
So I thought this spicy jam cake would suite him well—and it did. The spices predominate. The jam barely makes a statement, but it does keep the cake moist.
I adapted the recipe from the Treasury of Tennessee Treats, an elderly but useful community cookbook sent to me recently by my friend Kelly Boyd, a native of Athens, Tennessee.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) sweet butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
13 ounces (weight—1 very generous cup in volume) jam (I used raspberry)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
13 ounces (weight—1 very generous cup in volume) jam (I used raspberry)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.
Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the spices and dissolved baking soda.
Stir in the flour, followed by the jam.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan (the batter will be a rather sad-looking color—sort of a grayish mud–but it will turn a lovely brown in the oven) and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. In my so-so electric oven this took 30 to 35 minutes.
Let the cake cool in its pan on a rack for 10 minutes; then invert and remove it and let it finish cooling. Ice with cream-cheese frosting.
Serves 12.
Tags: Jam Cake, Spice Cake
hmmmmmm. The Gourmet Club theme this month is the Kentucky Derby. I have to provide dessert. Maybe I could slide over from Kentucky to Tennessee and make this cake. It looks yummy.
Yummy looking cake. I’ll try it next time I need a cake.
My husband is a cookie lover.
Adelaide
Alas, Adelaide, I love cookies AND cakes. Commonweeder, I hope you made it–or maybe the famous pie that was inspired by the Derby?
Tinky, I’m still trying to figure out how to make treats at least somewhat Type 2 Diabetes friendly. Just substituting nonfat dairy products and artificial sweeteners doesn’t cut it. I end up going with fresh fruit much of the time. Good thing ultra-dark chocolate is okay in moderation.
Hi, Paul–I agree that substitutions don’t always work. At one point artificial sweeteners worked for me, but at this point I can tell the difference too well! Luckily, fresh fruit is coming more and more into season. We tend to try to have VERY SMALL bits of treats in our home and to invite people over whenever we make something over the top. (Peter took most of his cake to his in law’s house, which was great for us.)