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Blackberry jam in a cake? Yup! Nana’s Jam Cake features a tasty combination of peach preserves, blackberry jam and warming baking spices. Grab a slice for dessert tonight!
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What are some of your favorite family recipes? You know, the ones that have been passed down from generation to generation. Maybe the recipes have been slightly tweaked and edited over the years, but the general idea is the same. They are the recipes that everyone in your family knows and loves.
My sister and I are fortunate in that we saved my grandmother’s recipe box after she passed. That old wooden box is literally stuffed with index cards. I remember many of the recipes from family gatherings, and it’s fun to read her notes in the margins. One of my favorites? Her Old Fashioned Pound Cake recipe – I’ve made that cake dozens of times, and it’s just a darned good pound cake!
Nana’s Jam Cake
Today’s recipe also comes from the collection of recipes that have been passed down through the years…except this one wasn’t passed down in my family. This recipe for Nana’s Jam Cake comes from a long-time reader who was kind enough to share one of her family’s favorite recipes.
I wasn’t familiar with the concept of a jam cake prior to seeing this recipe, but a quick google search confirms that jam cakes are a popular “old fashioned” recipe. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I can absolutely see this cake being the kind that a grandma would pull out of the oven whenever the family visits. It just has that classic home-baked feel to it.
At first glance, I thought Nana’s Jam Cake might be similar to a fruitcake. After all, there are all sorts of fruits and nuts in this one:
- Blackberry jam
- Peach preserves
- Crushed pineapples
- Raisins
- Pecans
However, this cake is not dense like most fruitcakes. It comes out of the oven with a familiar cake-like texture, and it is packed with flavor! I wouldn’t say that any of the individual ingredients overpowers this cake – rather the overall flavor is a tasty combination of the individual ingredients.
Despite the various fruits and jams, this cake isn’t as sweet as I thought it might be. Don’t get me wrong – it’s sweet. It is a dessert after all! But as Laura put it, “This reminds me more of a breakfast cake.” Then again, Laura thinks anything with nutmeg in it reminds her of breakfast cake. As for me? I’ll gladly take a slice of Nana’s Jam Cake for breakfast or dessert or any time in between.
Nana’s Jam Cake is a fun recipe, and I can just imagine Nana pulling this warm cake out of the oven on a cold weekend afternoon. Thanks to Kim for sharing one of her family favorites with us! Happy baking, my friends!
Did you bake Nana’s Jam Cake at home? Leave a comment and let me know what you think, or better yet grab a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog). Cheers!
Nana’s Jam Cake
Blackberry jam in a cake? Yup! Nana's Jam Cake features a tasty combination of fruit preserves, jam and warming baking spices. Grab a slice for dessert tonight!
5 from 9 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour hour 50 minutes minutes
Total Time: 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes
Servings: 20 servings
Calories: 441kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 cups blackberry jam
- 1 cup peach preserves
- 1 cup crushed pineapples
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- {optional} confectioner’s sugar for dusting
Instructions
Preheat oven to 275°F.
Grease and flour a 9”x13” cake pan; line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Set pan aside.
Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy (~3-4 minutes on medium speed).
Add eggs two at a time, mixing after each addition until well combined.
Using a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cloves. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture; mix on low speed until well combined.
Add buttermilk, blackberry jam, peach preserves and crushed pineapples; mix on low speed until well combined.
Add remaining flour mixture; mix on low speed until well combined.
Add raisins and pecans; mix on low speed until well combined.
Transfer batter into prepared pan.
Bake for 60 minutes.
Increase oven temperature to 325°F and continue baking for 45-60 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out mostly clean.
Let cake cool in pan for 20 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack until completely cool.
{Optional} Dust top of cake with confectioner’s sugar prior to serving.
Notes
Recipe courtesy of Kim S.
Looking for more classic cake ideas? Check out these other favorites, too:
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