A very lovely friend gifted me a jar of her homemade blackberry jam and it is delicious. But I thought I might add some to a cake, this is the result. Quite possibly one of my most favourite cakes ever...
500g/17.6 oz plain/all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking powder
225g/8 oz butter, softened
300g/10.5 oz dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
350g/12.4 oz blackberry jam
200ml/7 fl oz buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk use regular milk with a teaspoon of lemon juice added)
For the icing:
100g/3.5 oz dark brown sugar
55g/2 oz butter
60g/2 oz plain yogurt
2 tablespoons plain/all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat your oven to 350F/180C/Gas 4.
Grease and flour a large bundt pan. If you don't have a bundt tin you can place an empty tin can in the centre of a large cake tin.
Cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
Pop the flour, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, salt and baking powder into a separate large bowl.
Now add the eggs a little at a time to the creamed butter/sugar mixture, whisking in between. Add the jam and mix. Now add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, a little at a time until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
Bake in the oven for about an hour, until a skewer comes out clean.
Turn out from the tin and allow to cool.
To make the icing pop all the ingredients into a heavy saucepan. Set it over a medium low heat and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Keep it on a gentle boil, whisking until the mixture thickens, this will take about five minutes or so. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Then spoon over the cake.
