Holiday Jam Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease three 8 or 9 inch round cake pans and set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until each one is blended in. Dissolve the baking soda in the water; stir into the batter along with the blackberry jam. Combine the flour, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt; stir into the batter by hand, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the black walnuts and raisins if using. Divide the batter equally between the three pans, and spread in an even layer.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the top of the cakes spring back when lightly touched, about 35 minutes. Cool in the pans until cool enough to handle, then invert the cakes over a wire rack and remove pans to cool completely.

Steps:

• Grind strawberries and cranberries in a food processor or grinder; place in a Dutch oven. Add sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil; boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat; stir in pectin and return to a full rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. , Cool for 5 minutes; skim off foam. Carefully ladle hot mixture into hot half-pint jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine raisins and pineapple; let stand for at least 30 minutes. , In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with jam and buttermilk, beating well after each addition. Stir in raisin mixture and nuts. , Spread into two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. , For icing, in a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in sugar and milk. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat; cool until just warm. Pour into a large bowl; beat in enough confectioners' sugar to achieve a spreading consistency. Spread frosting between layers and over the top and sides of cake.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour a 10-inch-by-4-inch tube pan. In a large bowl, stir together 3 cups flour, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and salt. Pour buttermilk into 2-cup glass measure or bowl. Stir in baking soda and set aside; it will foam slightly.
• In a large bowl, using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter until creamy. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
• With mixer at low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, until just blended. Beat in preserves and pecans until just mixed, then finish mixing by hand with a spatula.
• Scrape batter into pan and smooth top. Bake until cake is springy to the touch and shrinks from sides, and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, 65 to 70 minutes. (If baking as holiday gifts, pour into three smaller pans and begin checking for doneness after 30 minutes.).
• Transfer to wire rack and cool completely in pan. To remove from pan, run a knife or thin spatula around the edges and center tube. Turn cake onto plate and lift off pan. If desired, dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Steps:

• Make the cake:
• In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs and combine the mixture well. Into a bowl sift together 3 cups of the flour, the allspice, the cloves, the cinnamon, and the salt. In another bowl combine the buttermilk and the baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in batches alternately with the buttermilk mixture, beating well after each addition. In a bowl toss together the raisins, the pecans, and the remaining 1 tablespoon flour and stir the mixture into the batter with the jam, stirring until the mixture is combined well. 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 the layers in the middle of a preheated 325°F. oven for 40 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans on a rack for 15 minutes, invert them onto the rack, and let the layers cool completely.
• Make the icing
• In a saucepan combine the brown sugar, the evaporated milk, and the butter, cook the mixture over moderately low heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved, and cook it, undisturbed, washing down any sugar crystals clinging to the side of the pan with a brush dipped in cold water, until it registers 238°F. on a candy thermometer. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and beat it until it is of spreading consistency. If the icing gets too hard to spread, dip the icing spatula in hot water.
• Transfer one of the layers, bottom up, to a cake plate, frost the top with the icing, and top it with the remaining layer, bottom down. Frost the top and sides with the icing.

Steps:

• Sterilize jars and lids in boiling water for at least 10 minutes. Let simmer while making jam.
• In a large saucepan, combine strawberries, cranberries, pectin, and margarine. Bring to a boil. Stir in sugar, and return to a boil. Cook for 1 minute; remove from heat.
• Quickly fill jars to within 1/2 inch from top. Wipe rims clean, and put on lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.