Bring wonderful old fashioned flavor to your table with this vintage Buttermilk Blackberry Jam Cake recipe. Soaked in an orange and cinnamon infused simple syrup this cast iron skillet cake takes the richness of farmhouse simplicity to a whole new level. Not too sweet, buttery rich with tart blackberries and the zing of orange, this old fashioned cake gives any self-respecting pound or coffee cake a real run for its money!
Buttermilk Blackberry Jam Cake:
- buttermilk cake (ingredients below)
- blackberry preserves
- fresh blackberries
- confectioner’s sugar
- orange simple syrup (ingredients below)
- cinnamon stick
There is just something about the rich darkness of purply-black blackberries and buttermilk that make me think of grandmas in house dresses and white clapboard homeplaces. Maybe it’s because those are the types of humble ingredients that are always present, farm-fresh and ready to be devoured, at such locations. Where time slows down, and smells from the kitchen permeate every nook and cranny.
I want a slice of this cake just thinking about it! As far as cakes go this is a simple one. No icing. No fuss. As a matter of fact, the recipe starts out a lot like any good southern cornbread- with a hot skillet and oil (in this case butter). That heated skillet sizzles and snaps when those first drops of batter meet with it, creating a golden brown crust that keeps the blackberry jam layer from sticking.
A little cake batter on the bottom, topped with blackberries, then covered with more batter and baked until it all comes up golden brown is what you’re looking for. And oh, how it starts to fill the house with its sweet, warm smells.
While the cake bakes, and orange infused simple syrup is simmering on the stove. Orange slices and cinnamon sticks bubble and swirl, weaving their own aromas around the rich scent of the baking buttermilk cake. When all has cooled and the cake has soaked, a simple dusting of confectioner’s sugar finishes the cake with simple style.
Just look at that golden, sugared goodness. There is nothing better than baking in a cast iron skillet with just the right ingredients.
A slice is perfect for brunch, with afternoon coffee, or after dinner. I have to hide this cake, or it’s gone before the it even cools properly!
The dark layer of blackberry jam on the bottom is hard to resist.
Old Fashioned Buttermilk Blackberry Jam Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 stick salted butter room temp.
- 1 C white granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temp.
- 2 C all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 ¼ C buttermilk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 10 oz blackberry preserves
- 6 oz fresh blackberries chopped
Orange Simple Syrup
- 1 C water
- 1 C white granulated sugar
- ⅓ C orange juice
- 1 orange thinly sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick
Topping
- 1 C powdered (Confectioner's) sugar
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Generously butter bottom and sides of 10in cast iron skillet.
- Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Incorporating the first before adding the second.
- In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add ⅓ of dry mixture. Completely incorporate without over mixing. Add ⅓ buttermilk. Incorporate completely again without over mixing. Repeat until all dry ingredients and buttermilk have been incorporated.
- Add vanilla and mix just until incorporated evenly.
- Briefly heat skillet in oven until butter is beginning to melt. Remove from oven and add ½ of batter. There will be a nice sizzle (similar to making corn bread). Distribute blackberry jam over the batter, staying ½ inch from the edges. Add rest of cake batter on top.
- Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes. Cake should be golden brown. Remove from oven. Let cool for 5 minutes. Drizzle ½ of orange simple syrup over top. Let soak and cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar and serving.
Orange Simple Syrup
- Before baking cake, add simple syrup ingredients to small sauce pan and bring to a simmer while stirring. Let simmer for 20 minutes while you make your cake batter. After 20 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool before drizzling over finished cake.
Notes
Things You Might Need to Make or Serve This Recipe!
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Can we substitute blackberry jam for the blackberry preserves? The reason that I ask that is because most of the time blackberry preserves have seeds, and I don’t enjoy eating thing that have seeds in them.
Absolutely! In the case of the seeds, you might also want to omit the fresh blackberries too then. I hope you enjoy. Let me know how it turns out!
When do you put in the blackberries, not in directions?????
Hi, Carol! You mix the chopped blackberries into the jam before you layer the jam in the cake batter.
Recipe says: “Cakes” should be golden brown.
Remove from oven. Let cool for 5 minutes.
Drizzle 1/2 of orange simple syrup over top.
Did I miss something? Making one or 2 cakes?
If one cake, you only use 1/2 of orange simple syrup? The other 1/2 could be used if you make 2 cakes? Or do you use the other half of syrup on top of cake before you serve it, if you like?
Thank you!
This really looks delicious…my kind of cake! Wonder how blueberries would be? Definitely no seeds.
Hi, Carmel! This recipe makes just one cake in a cast iron skillet. The simple syrup recipe does make about twice as much as needed to soak the cake without making it soggy. However, that can vary so I always like to make more than I need. But like you mentioned, you can serve any leftover syrup with the cake in case someone would like a little more. I find that’s always a hit! Of course, I’m always partial to the idea that extra syrup means another cake must be made!