Blackberry Jam Cake with Caramel Frosting
Before the holidays got into full swing, I was offered an opportunity to review a very special cookbook by a mother and daughter team from Colorado, Sally Clayton and Lee Clayton Roper. Time got away from me but I still wanted to share this lovely book. Sadly, Sally passed away just as the cookbook was being finished but Lee continued on in her mother’s honor; sharing both her recipes and continuing her legacy as a renowned cook and hostess, teaching cooking classes, guesting on TV and radio and speaking about the mother-daughter bond that created this beautiful book, ‘A Well-Seasoned Kitchen.’
Started as a collaboration when Sally had begun to suffer from the affects of osteoporosis and memory loss, Lee has captured in these recipes the very image of her mother. Classic recipes for today’s contemporary cook, they offer some old, some new, some simple and some more elegant. If you have read enough of this blog you might know how well loved my series of Denver Junior League Cookbooks are. I have never had a misstep when I’ve counted on those volumes for something new to try.
This book is so reminiscent of those. Approachable recipes for everyday and easy entertaining, in fact my only problem was in deciding what I wanted to make from dishes that included appetizers like Camembert Saute, a simple round of cheese coated in bread crumbs and fried in butter, Savory Chicken in Phyllo Packets that can be frozen and recipes like the one I’m sharing today, this Blackberry Jam Cake with Caramel Frosting; a dessert from Kentucky that dates back more than 100 years. Further digging has fond yet another variation on Lemon Bars; with a touch of frosting on the top that are lovingly labeled as Nama’s Lemon Love Notes and my Grandma’s Pecan Butter Balls are included here as Grandma Clayton’s Sand Tarts; obviously a Grandma thing! I love thinking about the difference in recipe sharing before the Internet; how friends would share dishes and recipe cards and I’m amazed at just how far and wide those recipes reached; I wish I knew the history beyond those travels sometimes, don’t you?
Not surprisingly I made a couple of simple changes when I made this cake. Basically a spice cake made with some jam in the batter and then frosted with a Caramel Frosting, I was a bit concerned about the level of spiciness. I liked the unique sound of the cake but given my own propensity (or lack thereof actually) for heavily spiced cakes, I chose to eliminate the allspice. Or was it because I didn’t have any? Yeah, that too! I’ve included the allspice in the list of ingredients so using it is your call. This result was perfect for me.
I was preparing this cake for dessert to follow a late afternoon meal when I shared Cubano sandwiches (I’ll share those next week!) with my neighbors including their kids. That meant there would be 10 adults and 8 kids and as I started to feel some pressure for time, I gave myself myself a break and instead of actually frosting the cake I decided to drizzle it with the caramel frosting. The jam in the cake was evident in the slight purplish hue it imparted but I wanted more jam…so I spread several tablespoons on each warm layer before topping them with the frosting.
That effort did make finishing the cake, well, a ‘piece of cake’ but did not affect either the presentation or the taste. One thing I did notice was that I enjoyed this cake even more the next morning with coffee; though to be fair that may have been as much as anything due to the fact that the house was a bit quieter and I had my cup of coffee in hand. I love the kids on the street and have found that my long and wide main hallway is a nice playground, unfortunately part of that play is chasing my poor cat. Peyton would be wiser to make himself known occasionally; hiding just feeds their desire to find him; poor guy.
I did not finish the basement in my new home; how was I to know there would be a whole passle of kids that I love near me? Now I’m planning to carpet a portion and get some kids toys for that space, giving them a play area and Peyton some peace. I promise I will not be hanging a bar from the ceiling though to swing on like my parents did. My fall from that contraption onto my head ended in my first visit to the hospital as a 4 year old with a concussion. I literally learned the hard way. 🙂
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A mother daughter collaboration. I would love this cookbook.
I liked Creative Culinary on Facebook.
I must get this cookbook! Love my collection of JL cookbooks (I helped with the recipes for our JL cookbook. One of my fav recipes of all time is the JL Santa Barbara Santa Rosa Rice Salad.
My DIL is from Kentucky, and this will get made soon. The chicken in phyllo also sounds divine.
I also pinned your Bischoff cupcakes. I was gifted a CASE of Bischoff (half crunchy, half reg.) We’ve, oops, I ALONE, have eaten half of the case with a spoon, glass of NF milk, and apples. Don’t.regret.a.spoonful.
This looks lovely ! Think I will try for a special occasion.
Following Creative Culinary on FB! Can’t believe I wasn’t already 🙂
I love that Lee completed this cookbook in her mothers honor. Such a wonderful tribute.
Thanks for the chance to win the cookbook!
What an incredible thing to do to save her mother’s best recipes in a book. I think this blackberry jam cake and that incredible frosting would be a real treat.
Love this old time recipe and this site.
This is a very interesting sounding cake; and since the ibgredients are already on my shelf l have decided that it will be dessert for our Sunday meal. Would love to be tge winner of this lovely cookbook. Thanks for the opportubity to try.
This sounds like a terrific cookbook! Certainly that’s a wonderful recipe — so much flavor. Great that you have so many little buddies in your new neighborhood — and they’re perfect for when you want to test baking recipes, and don’t want to eat the whole thing yourself!
I liked CC on Facebook 🙂
This looks wonderful! I can’t wait to try it. Thank you for sharing the recipe, and for letting us know about this wonderful cookbook.
It’s not hard to ‘like’ anything with blackberries — so few real good recipes . I can almost taste this cake — it’s a first-class ‘coffee cake’ in my opinion,, and I wouldn’t care if I didn’t get the coffee! LOL
I liked it on Facebook and I’ll like it even more in person. I won’t ask if it freezes well because It will never see the inside of my freezer!
This looks like a cookbook that I would truly enjoy, given my love of stories and food! Great recipe and I do love allspice, so I can’t wait to try it with that!
This cake looks delightful and love the back stories you tell as well 🙂 I am always looking for recipes that feature jam, so this one will be pinned!
Following Creative Culinary on FB!
Love Jam Cakes, this one looks wonderful.
Yum! Cannot wait to try this recipe.
Looks so yummy!
Also, liked on FB!
This looks amazing!
This is perfect… my mother in law sends us Gooseberry Jam from Oregon that we love… I am going to try this with some of the Gooseberry Jam! Thank you!
This looks like a wonderful cookbook and how special that the recipes were shared by a mother-daughter team. Your cake is something else! I love that icing and could eat a bowl full of it all by myself.
Let me know what age range your neighborhood kids are and I bet I’ll have some toys to pass along. I am hoping “spring-cleaning” hits me but I like the idea of “spring-sharing” better!
I have some girl stuff so if you have anything boy you want to hand me down that would be great. Ages 4-9!
I loved the icing too!