Recipe of the month

When I was growing up at home, with my two brothers and two sisters, we didn’t have birthday parties. We had birthday cakes, made my our mother, especially for us. It was the one time in the year when we got our favorite cake for our birthday. I was born in July when blackberries were in season and my favorite cake was a Blackberry Jam Cake.

It is somewhat unusual and you may have never even heard of it. Mom cooked my cake in a Bundt pan and it had a habit of coming out with the top sunk in, kind of heavy. That is exactly how I liked it.

Here is the same recipe my mom used. This one is from my first cousin, Doris Scott Beasley of Celina, TN. Hope you enjoy it. Icing is included here, but I never wanted icing on mine.

Doris’s Jam Cake 

Cream 2 sticks butter with 2 cups sugar, add 4 eggs, add 1 cup Blackberry jam, beginning and ending with flour. Add alternately 3 cups self rising flour with 1 teasp cinnamon and 1 teasp allspice mixed thoroughly into flour and 1 cup buttermilk, add 1 tbls vanilla and 1 cup nuts (best if use Black Walnuts). Bake in bundt pan at 350 degrees for about an hour.

Icing: Dissolve 2 cups brown sugar, 3/4 cups pet milk and cook until soft ball stage, add 2 tbls butter and 1 teasp vanilla beating until spreading consistency. You may also choose your own caramel icing for the cake or none at all