Southern Blackberry Jam Cake

Blackberry Cake

You'll Need:

•· 3 cups all purpose flour, sifted

•· 1 teaspoon soda

•· 1/2 teaspoon salt

•· 1 teaspoon ground allspice

•· 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

•· 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

•· 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

•· 2 cups chopped pecans, toasted and divided

•· 1 cup raisins or chopped dates, optional

•· 1 cup butter

•· 1 1/2 cups sugar

•· 3 eggs, beaten

•· 1 cup blackberry jam, seedless

•· 1 cup buttermilk

•Fresh blackberries - to garnish cake

Blackberry Filling (recipe below)

Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions

1.Butter and flour three nine inch cake pans. Set aside.

2.Preheat oven to 350F.

3.In a medium skillet over medium low heat, toast pecans until fragrant. Divide in half. Set 1 cup of pecans with which to decorate the cake, and mix the other half with the raisins.

4.In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, allspice, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

5.Sift about a half a cup of the flour mixture over the nuts and raisins, and toss to combine.

6.In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, and beat until fully incorporated and again light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add blackberry jam and mix well.

7.Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, working in three batches and beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until smooth after each addition. Stir in half the nuts (1 cup) and raisins.

8.Divide the batter evenly among the three cake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until springy to the touch, and a wooden skewer inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.

9.Allow cakes to cool in their pans for 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto wire cake racks and cool completely before frosting.

10.Spread Blackberry Filling between layers. Frost with Buttercream or Cream Cheese Frosting.