This Blackberry Jam Cake is for all you fans of this old-time recipe.  It’s packed full of blackberry flavor and warm spices and has a wonderful creamy caramel icing to complement each layer.

A slice of homemade blackberry jam cake with caramel icing.

I’m posting this Blackberry Jam Cake per the long-time request of my cousin Teresa, aka Teetle.  We both grew up eating this cake, and my mother made it often.  I have bittersweet memories of this cake too.  It takes me back to a time of picking briary, thorny blackberries out in the heat of the day for hours, only to get up early the next morning and do it all over again.  I hated picking blackberries more than you’ll ever know!!

I do love the simplicity of this cake.  It’s made with seedless blackberry jam, and don’t let the color of the batter turn you off.  Okay, so maybe it’s not the prettiest color for a cake batter, but it’s the taste that counts.  Right?

Blackberry Jam Cake.

This cake isn’t complete without the creamy Caramel Icing.  Most cakes are finished with thick creamy frosting, but many old-fashioned cakes like this one are finished with icing.  Icing is thinner than frosting and is usually always cooked for a few minutes.  This icing only gets cooked for about 2 minutes.  It starts with brown sugar butter and half & half and gets cooked long enough to dissolve the brown sugar.  Then powdered sugar gets added, resulting in a thin creamy icing.

A homemade blackberry jam cake with caramel icing.

If you use homemade jam when making this cake, make sure it’s seedless.

A blackberry jam cake with a slice missing.

More blackberry desserts you might like…

Blackberry Dumplings  

Homemade Blackberry Pie  

Soft Crust Blackberry Cobbler  

If you make this recipe please rate it, and leave a comment below on how you liked it. I love hearing from you!

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A slice of homemade blackberry jam cake with caramel icing.

Blackberry Jam Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Cindy Gibbs
  • Prep Time: 20 Minutes
  • Cook Time: 35 Minutes
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 12 to 14 Servings 1x
  • Category: Cake
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American
Print Recipe

Description

This old fashioned Blackberry Jam Cake is packed full of warm spice and blackberry flavors, and it’s finished with a cream caramel icing!

Ingredients

Units Scale

FOR THE CAKE

  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 cups full-fat buttermilk
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 cup real butter, unsalted
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 cup blackberry seedless jam

FOR THE ICING

  • 3/4 cup real butter, unsalted
  • 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 cup half & half
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3 – 4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

FOR THE CAKE

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line three 9-inch cake pans with wax paper rounds.  Grease and lightly flour rounds and insides of pans and set aside.

  1. Add the baking soda to the buttermilk and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice and set aside.
  3. Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or use a hand mixer.  Mix on high speed for about 1 minute until the sugar is incorporated into the butter and the mixture is smooth and creamy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add the blackberry jam and mix until fully incorporated.
  4. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mixing on medium speed until the flour is barely incorporated.  Add 1/2 of the buttermilk and mix to incorporate.  Add the remaining flour and buttermilk alternately, ending with the flour.  Do not overmix.
  5. Divide the batter equally between the 3 lined cake pans.  Gently shake pans to level out the batter.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the cakes are golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool in pans for 5 minutes.  Invert cakes onto wire racks and remove the wax paper rounds.  Leave cakes on racks until completely cooled.

FOR THE ICING

  1. Add the butter, brown sugar, half & half, salt & vanilla to a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Cook for 2 minutes and remove from heat.  Using a hand mixer, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing until smooth.  The icing will be on the thin side at first, but as soon as it begins to cool it will quickly become thicker.
  2. Place one cake layer on a cake plate and spread 1/3 of the icing over it.  Place a second layer over the icing and spread a second 1/3 of the icing over it.  Place the third layer on top of the icing and spread the remaining 1/3 of the icing over the top.  If the icing begins to get too thick while you’re spreading it, dip your knife in some hot water.  You can also add a tiny bit of warm half & half to the icing to thin it if needed.
  3. For best freshness, keep cake refrigerated until an hour or so before serving.

Notes

I recomment using seedless blackberry jam for this cake.  Regular blackberry jam has lots of seeds in it.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t like biting down on crunchy seeds when eating my cake.