Blackberry Jam Cake with Caramel Icing
Submitted by raggy
Old-fashioned blackberry jam cake with warm spices, pecans, and raisins topped with silky caramel icing. Southern heritage cake with allspice, cloves, and buttermilk crumb.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
50 minCOOK
40 minREADY
90 minThis is the kind of cake Southern grandmothers guarded in their recipe boxes: dark, deeply spiced, and sweetened with jam instead of extra sugar.
Blackberry preserves stud the batter with jewel-like pockets of fruit while keeping the crumb impossibly moist for days.
The caramel icing, cooked to soft-ball stage and beaten to spreading consistency, forms a glossy shell that crackles slightly when you cut into it, revealing that tender, spice-scented interior loaded with pecans and plump raisins.
Pro Tips
- Toss nuts and raisins in flour before folding into batter to prevent sinking
- Watch the caramel temperature closely with a candy thermometer; 238°F is your magic number
- Dip your spatula in hot water if the caramel icing starts to stiffen before you finish frosting
- Let layers cool completely before icing to prevent melting and sliding
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and combine well.
Into a bowl, sift together 3 cups of flour, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and salt.
In another bowl, combine the buttermilk and baking soda.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in batches alternating with the buttermilk mixture.
Beat well after each addition.
In a bowl, toss together the raisins, pecans, and 1 tablespoon flour.
Stir the mixture into the batter with the jam, stirring until well combined.
Line the bottoms of 2 buttered 9-inch cake pans with wax paper and butter the paper.
Pour the batter into the pans and bake in the middle of a preheated 325f oven for 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Let layers cool in the pans on a rack for 15 minutes, invert them onto the rack and let cool completely.
Caramel Icing: In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, evaporated milk, and butter.
Cook the mixture over mod-low heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.
Continue to cook, undisturbed, washing down any sugar crystals that form on the side of the pan, with a brush dipped in cold water, until it registers 238f on a candy thermometer.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and beat until it is at spreading consistency.
If the icing gets too thick, dip the icing spatula in hot water.
Transfer one layer, bottom up to a cake plate.
Frost top with the icing and top it with the other layer, bottom side down.
Frost the top and sides with remaining icing.
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