Showing posts with label Blackberries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blackberries. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Old-Fashioned Jam Cake

Sorry for not having Dorie's Toasted Coconut Tart, which was chosen by Cinemon Girl. I had too many birthdays this week. Chet and my brother-in-law Larry have back to back birthdays on February 24th adn 25th. It's become a part of my gift to a loved one to let them choose a "birthday treat" from my favorite baking bible, Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. So far, almost everyone has chosen a cake. My mom chose Devil's Food White-Out Cake, Earl (my father-in-law) chose Banana Cream Pie, Allison (my sister) chose a Double-Apple Bundt Cake, and my wonderful husband chose the Perfect Party Cake. (And now I realize that maybe Shirley didn't get a birthday treat. Oops! Shirley, you can pick a treat anytime, just because!) Since Chet's birthday came first, he got first choice. But he didn't want to look at my book. He said, "Jam Cake. I have the recipe." I didn't say it at the time, but I'll admit it now. I was disappointed. "Jam cake? Really? Only old ladies like jam cake." But I promised the birthday boy any treat he wanted, so I planned to deliver.
I'm glad that I obliged. It was ugly, but it was good. It had been a rough day, so I ran into some problems with the icing (I'd never made a cooked icing, so I kept whipping it, waiting for it to get fluffy. Before I figured out that it wasn't going to get fluffy, it almost got too cool to frost with, but it tasted like caramel fudge. Yum.) The flavor of the cake was wonderful. The flavor of the spices reminded me of fall, and the blackberry jam made the cake so moist. I think it had been a logn time since Chet had eaten a jam cake, because he said, "This is just the way I remember it!" I was so glad that I was able to give him a practically perfect (tasting) cake for his birthday.
As you can see, I didn't do a fantastic job on the icing, and the layers aren't exactly the same size, but it was delicious! It's rich though...the icing is like fudge, so you can't eat a lot of it...although we tried!
Want to see the recipe Chet gave me? This is exactly what he gave me:
Jam Cake
Charlene McPherson
1 cup butter
5 eggs
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. allspice
1 cup raisins
1 cup pecans
1 cup jam
Mix Flour Grease and Wax paper Line Cake Pans
And for the icing:
1 box brown sugar
1 cup cream
Cook to soft ball stage add 1/2 stick butter and 1 tsp. vanilla. Beat until creamy and spread.
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Saturday, July 18, 2009

Making Plans...

Last year, Shirley's garden was overrun with zucchini, and she had a bumper crop of blackberries. I took a bunch of the HUGE zucchini and shredded them up to freeze for future use. I did the same with blackberries. My family proceeded to make fun of me, because I had something like 36 cups of zucchini and 24 cups of blackberries. Well...it's gone! I've used it all up on things like blackberry cobbler, zucchini bread, and blackberry pie bars, so it's time to stock up. Here's what I did yesterday:

This year, I got smart. After I rinsed the blackberries, I laid them out on towels for an hour or so, then I spread them onto a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet and stuck them in the freezer overnight. This morning, I had individually frozen blackberries. Much more efficient than one big hunk 'o frozen blackberries. Right now, I'm at about 16 cups of blackberries. I heard this morning that there are more ripe and ready for the pickin'!
After shredding about 5 super-huge zucchini, this was what I had...

And then after squeezing most of the water out of it and packing it into four-cup portions, this is what I had...
Now, I've got a head start on my Christmas baking (little loaves of zucchini bread are always well-received), and I'll be able to make some more of those divine blackberry pie bars.
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

It's David's Birthday!

Today is David's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID! I've been telling him for at least two weeks that he needs to get Dorie's cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours and pick out his birthday treat. Finally, last night he got it out and made his selection. What did he pick? You won't believe it. He picked the Perfect Party Cake! What's the big deal? Well...unbeknownst to David, that's the TWD assignment for next week! It's a little too involved for a weeknight birthday treat, so I promised that I would make it for him this weekend. But for tonight's actual birthday treat, I have Joy the Baker to thank. I was looking around her beautiful (and funny!) site and came across Blackberry Pie Bars with Lemon Sugar. They looked delicious (and simple), so I decided to give them a go. The base layer is a pie-type crust made with lemon sugar (lemon zest rubbed into sugar, so that the sugar becomes lemon flavored/scented). You can even see the little flecks of lemon zest in the crust:

The next layer is a mixture of blackberries, sour cream, eggs, and sugar, and then there's a little more of the pie crust topping. After a stint in the oven, this is what you'll be rewarded with:

These were absolutely delicious! The crust is amazing. I'll be using that for other things in the future! I was thinking of a blueberry pie, perhaps. Mmmmm. Anyway, instead of birthday cake, David had a big ol' Blackberry Pie Bar with ice cream. I think he looks pretty pleased...
The recipe makes a ton of Blackberry Pie Bars, so the remainder will be heading to work with David in the morning. I hope the folks at CUB like them!
We've got some pretty sweet news to share, too. See the picture below? That's me and David, standing in what will be my new kitchen in about 6 or 7 months! We broke ground Monday morning on our dream home in David's hometown. We're so excited! We've found the perfect house plan, a fantastic builder, and we're on our way! Don't worry...I'll keep you updated! I may need some advice when it gets closer to kitchen planning time!
Blackberry Pie Bars with Lemon Sugar
Joy the Baker/The Pastry Queen
For the Crust/Topping:
3 cups AP flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 sticks butter, chilled and cubed
zest from 2 lemons
Blackberry Filling:
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup AP flour
pinch salt
6 cups fresh blackberries
For the Crust:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a jellyroll pan generously. Zest both lemons. Place sugar into a bowl; add lemon zest. Using your hands, rub the lemon zest into the sugar until the sugar seems to feel a little wet from the lemon oil. Combine the lemon sugar, flour, salt, and butter in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until the mixture is dry and crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the mixture for the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the jellyroll pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes while you make the filling.
For the Filling:
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the sugar, sour cream, flour, and salt. Gently fold in the blackberries. Spoon the mixture evenly over the crust. You may need to distribute the blackberries evenly over the crust. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Cool for 1 hour before slicing into generous servings.
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