Jam Cake With Caramel Glaze Recipe

Makes 1 (8-inch) cake 

My mommy used to make this one. It was so good. She baked the cake on an old coal cookstove. She cooked the caramel glaze in an iron skillet on top of the stove. I asked her how she knew when the oven was hot enough. She said, “You just know!” I’ve been making this recipe for a while now and have won some ribbons with it. It makes me miss Mommy.

 

Ingredients

• 1 stick salted butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon table salt
• 1 cup blackberry jam
• ½ cup whole buttermilk
• ½ cup strawberry preserves
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup chopped black walnuts
• Caramel Glaze (recipe follows)

Caramel Glaze

Makes 2½ cups

• ½ stick salted butter
• ½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup whole milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease bottoms of 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line bottom of pans with parchment paper. Grease and flour paper and sides of pan. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Add flour mixture, jam, buttermilk and preserves to butter mixture. Beat for two minutes at medium speed. Stir in raisins and walnuts. Pour into prepared pans.  Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks. Remove paper and let cool completely. 

Place one cake layer on serving plate. Cover with ⅓ cup warm caramel glaze. Top with second cake layer, and drizzle with remaining caramel glaze. This cake is best made two days in advance. Store tightly covered. Don’t refrigerate. You can bake in a greased and floured 13x9-inch pan, too.

Caramel Glaze 

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in brown sugar; cook, stirring constantly, for two minutes. Add milk, and continue cooking until mixture boils, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; gradually stir in powdered sugar. Add vanilla; blend well. Use immediately. 

 

Cook With Linda

Two more recipes from Blue Ribbon Kitchen for AARP members to try:

No-Bake Butterscotch Cookies

I’ve always liked making these for bake sales because they’re easy to make, but be aware — they go quickly!

Broccoli Casserole

The cheese cracker topping makes this one unique.

Read About Linda Skeens' cookbook, Blue Ribbon Kitchen.