Aunt Tootsie's Mississippi Jam Cake!

This jam cake is a bit different from the Kentucky Jam Cake, that I have posted before and we make here in Kentucky usually.  However, it is equally as good!  When I post the Kentucky Jam Cake, someone usually asks about this type of jam cake also, because that is the one they remember.  The main difference is in the icing.  The Kentucky Jam Cake always has caramel icing.  This one also has a few less ingredients.

The is  my Aunt Tootsie's recipe.  She lives in the deep south, in southern Mississippi to be exact.  For those who didn't read the post for her Mississippi Fruit Cake,  Aunt Tootsie is my father's sister.  I have posted many recipes from my mother's sisters and there are so many of them, they have a lot of recipes to use.  I am blessed in the auntie department and I have always been so grateful for them.  You can learn so much from spending time with family and the older you get, the more you value their insight and knowledge.  As soon, as I posted the Fruit Cake, Aunt Tootsie had this recipe in the mail, which was so sweet of her!  That is just the kind of family I have been blessed with on both sides!

This is a wonderful, moist fruit cake and even though I am partial to caramel icing on anything, which is on the Kentucky Jam Cake, this icing is absolutely delicious also.  It would be good on anything also.  Another good thing about this jam cake is that it just uses blackberry jam, so you don't have to buy so many different jams.

Here is what you will need for this cake:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

3 large eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 Tbs. allspice

1/2 Tbs.. cinnamon

1/2 Tbs. cocoa

1 cup blackberry jam (seedless works best)

1/2 cup raisins

Cooked Icing

1  1/2 cups Sugar

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup butter

1 Tbs. white corn syrup

1 cup flaked coconut

1/2 (8 oz.) can of crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Cream sugar and butter together in a large mixing bowl.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.   

In another bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa and spices together.   Gradually add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk and mix until all is incorporated.  Mix in jam and raisins.

Line two 9 inch cake pans with parchment or was paper.  Spray the pans and the paper liberally with nonstick baking spray.  I prefer Baker's Joy for this.   Divide the batter equally between the two pans.  Place in oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  To test, place a pick in the center and if it comes out clean, they are done.  

Remove and allow to cool while you prepare the icing.

To prepare the icing, combine the sugar, milk, butter and syrup in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.   Cook until it reaches the soft ball stage  (240 degrees Fahrenheit or 116 Celsius).   You need to stir this while it gets to this temperature.   Once it reaches the right temperature, remove from heat and stir in coconut, pineapple, raisins, and nuts. 

Turn the cakes out onto a cake plate and spread icing between the layers and on top, allowing it to just run down the sides.  

Aunt Tootsie's Mississippi Jam Cake!