Jam Cake

Jump to Recipe

One of my goals for 2022 is to resurrect some recipes. I’ve never been someone who cooked from books. I’ve relied on Instagram and Pinterest for recipes. I’m not saying that is a bad thing either. I just found that I would save all these recipes and then not use them. They would get lost in the abyss and I’d be cooking pretty much the same things as always. 2022 is the year I push outside of those comfort zones. To be honest, I’m starting a little early. I’ve started collecting some extra recipe books and going through them. There are so many recipes that I can already tell I’m going to have a hard time choosing them. I decided to start with a more simple recipe and resurrected this Jam Cake. 

Jelly, Jam, or Preserves

What is the difference between these three? Jelly is made with fruit juice and typically doesn’t have any fruit chunks in it. Jam is made with mashed fruit so it is filled with fruit chunks. Preserves have whole fruit or very large pieces of fruit in them. They are all made in essentially the same way. Cooking the fruit, adding the pectin, and putting it in jars. There are just a couple more processing steps in between cooking and pectin for jelly and jam. You can use any of these in this recipe and I’m sure it will turn out just fine. 

This is the very first thing I ever canned. To be honest, I still had jam left from that very first batch. It was a long time ago (we’re talking like 5 years at least) and I’m down to my very last jar. The seals on the jar are still good so I’m using them up. I tend to fall into the “rebel canner” category so don’t take my advice as solid gold. I just think if I don’t see mold, it’s good to go. Probably not the best way to live but it hasn’t steered me wrong yet (knock on wood). 

Recipe Book

This recipe surfaced from a book called “A Harvest of Recipes.” It was compiled by the Grand Blanc Jaycee Auxiliary back in 1976. It’s one of those books with the plastic binding that gives away it’s age. I love this kind of book because all kinds of women submitted their favorite recipes. The ones they like cooking. Recipes that were handed down in their families. It just seems extra special. 

The woman that submitted this recipe is Mary Pardee. I’m only including that because if someone google searches her name I hope they find this. I hope they know that someone out here is still cooking their mom or grandma’s recipes. If you know Mary personally, give her a big thank you for me! This recipe is definitely a keeper in our household.

I was sad to find that the Grand Blanc Jaycee’s are no longer a chapter. Grand Blanc is over near the thumb of Michigan. If you have any interest in joining a chapter their website is very helpful and can find a chapter near you. Perhaps you’ll put out the next recipe book that I’ll be working with!

Ingredients

• 1 c. Strawberry Jam
• ½ c. Sour Cream
• 2 c. Flour
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Cloves
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp Allspice
• ½ tsp Ginger
• ½ c. butter
• 1 c. sugar

Directions

• Sift flour with baking soda, salt, and spices. 
• Cream the butter and sugar gradually.

• Add eggs, beating well.
• Add flour alternately with sour cream.

• Fold in the jam.
• Bake at 325 for 35-45 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Variations

You know, I had to make this in my own way! 

The original jam cake recipe called for baking it in layers at 325 for 20 minutes. I wasn’t sure what that meant. So, without knowing how to do that, I just baked this in a bundt pan all at once. I baked until the toothpick came out clean indicating that it was fully done. It was golden brown too. 

I used ¾ c of sugar. My jam is extremely sweet and I knew it would be too sweet if I made it with all that sugar. I honestly think I could have reduced this to ½ cup and it still would have been great. I would say if you are using a low sugar jam, jelly, or preserve keep the 1 cup. If you’s is also sweet you can reduce it. 

As always, I used greek yogurt instead of sour cream. We don’t even keep sour cream in our house. Plain greek yogurt tastes the exact same to me and it’s more multi-purpose. I can use it in my oatmeal for breakfast and serve it on tacos for dinner. That’s a versatile ingredient. 

It’s hard to believe that 1976 was only 45 years ago. That seems like a long time but also seems so short. There’s a good chance the submitter of this recipe is still around making her jam cake from the original recipe! If you know how to bake this in layers, please let me know! I’d love to try that portion of the recipe.