I'm so excited! I have lots of budding plums, apricots and nectarines on my Fruit Salad Tree, which means lots of fresh off the tree fruits again this year...
...... if the squirrels don't get to them first.
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| My tree grafted with plum, apricot, and nectarines |
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| Loaded with potential fruit |
I guess that also means I should use up all those last few jars of low sugar plum and apricot jams I canned here last year before the new canning season starts this year.
It's Jam Cake time!
Eat it for breakfast or as a pick-me-up with afternoon coffee or tea. Actually,. eat at it any time you want!
I like to mix only a very small portion of the jam into the batter, and leave the majority of the jam to swirl on top of the batter so that there's large pockets of concentrated jam in the baked cake for a burst of flavor. If you mix most of the jam into the batter instead of dolloping it on top of the cake, the fruity jam flavor gets kinda lost.
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| Melt butter in bowl. Add olive oil, eggs, sugar, vanilla and water. Mix |
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| Add flour, salt, baking powder. Mix |
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| Add a portion of the jam. |
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| Mix until everything is just incorporated |
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| Pour into greased pan. Spread out. Spoon remaining 1/2c jam on top |
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| Swirl with knife |
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| Bake at 350 x 45 min until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean |
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| Cool in pan. Then cut and serve. |
Or, if you are feeling extra fancy, you can pour the batter into a well greased round cake pan lined with a circular parchment paper on the bottom (This is an 8 inch cake pan.). Then dollop with jam and swirl, and bake at 350F until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 45 to 50 minutes). When cooled completely, you can dust it with a bit of powdered sugar on top if you like and slice.
Just FYI, this is a pretty dense cake.
Recipe adapted from Strawberry Jam Quick Bread
Yields 9 servings
Ingredients:
- 2 c All purpose flour
- 2 t baking powder
- ½ t baking soda
- ½ t salt
- 3/4 c white sugar
- ¼ c melted unsalted butter (half a stick)
- ¼ c light olive oil
- 1 t vanilla
- 1 t lemon juice
- 2 large eggs
- ½ c water or milk
- 3/4 c jam*, (whatever flavor you have), divided
* I used my homemade low sugar plum jam. If you use a full sugar jam, then decrease the white sugar to only 1/2 cup, unless you like really sweet cakes.
Procedures:
1. In a bowl, melt the butter (I use the microwave for 30 seconds).
2. Add olive oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, water, and lemon juice to the melted butter. Mix well. (I just use a spoon to mix, but you can use an electric mixer if you want.)
3. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix lightly. Do not over mix.
4. Stir in ¼ c of the the jam. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined.
5. Pour batter into a well-greased 8 x 8 inch pan. The batter will be thick, so spread the top out so it is even in the pan.
6. Spoon remaining ½ cup jam on top of the batter, spacing the dollops evenly apart. Swirl the dollops of jam with a butter knife.
7. Bake at 350 F for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (If you are using a metal non-stick pan, lower oven temperature to 340F if the cake starts to look too dark on the edge.)
8. Cool in pan and cut in squares to serve. Wrap remainder in plastic wrap. Will keep for 3 days at room temperature.