As a food writer, I often turn to Reddit to see what my fellow foodies are cooking up. From viral recipes, like Big Mama’s Secret Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake, to advice on what not to buy at Sam’s Club, the social media platform has been a treasure trove of tips and tricks for feeding my family. So whenever I get an email from Reddit about a food-related post that’s trending, I take notice.
Recently, I saw redditors on the r/Old_Recipes board discussing a dessert called “Kentucky Cake.” The poster was looking for more information on a recipe her father-in-law shared. “He said it was a cake made with multiple jams and black walnuts,” wrote r/_beccasaur_. “Unfortunately his mother has passed and the recipe is long gone. Does anyone know of anything like this? I would absolutely love to surprise him with this cake.”
What is Southern Jam Cake?
Terri Peters
Lots of redditors jumped into the comments section to help. “My family is from Kentucky and my mom’s favorite cake is jam cake,” wrote one. “It is usually made with blackberry or strawberry jam with walnuts and a caramel icing. Sometimes it’s called Kentucky Jam Cake.” Another shared about a similar cake made by their grandmother. “Jam cake,” wrote r/kalinkabeek. “[My grandmother] always used whatever jam she had on hand, which sometimes resulted in a mixture of several different kinds. She would also sometimes make the caramel frosting with cream cheese so it wasn’t as sweet.”
What caught my eye most in this Jam Cake thread, however, was an Allrecipes recipe linked in the comments. “This is close to the recipe my family made,” said a redditor, who then linked to a recipe for Georgia’s Tennessee Jam Cake. The cake recipe gets lots of five-star reviews on Allrecipes, and is a holiday family recipe from Allrecipes user Amy, who shares that it was developed by her grandmother and is something her family makes every year at Christmastime.
Ingredients for Georgia’s Tennessee Jam Cake
“The ingredients were originally authentic: homemade jam, buttermilk out of the churn, and walnuts you gather and crack yourself,” said Amy. “Now, we use purchased items, but the cake is just as good. Georgia was my grandmother. She was poor and had no access to cookbooks. Of course, there are tons of jam cake recipes out there, but this was her own special recipe, written and modified many times to make good use of the things she had lots of—homemade blackberry jam, walnuts, buttermilk, butter and eggs.”
I decided to try Georgia’s Tennessee Jam Cake at home, gathering the simple ingredients list of sugar, butter, eggs, baking soda, water, blackberry jam, flour, cinnamon, clove, salt, and buttermilk. Georgia’s version of a jam cake allows for the addition of things like walnuts or raisins, but I left these out to keep things simple.
How to Make Tennessee Jam Cake
Making the jam cake was easy: Grandma Georgia spread her batter over three round cake pans, but I poured mine into one large Bundt pan to create a singular cake. The batter came together incredibly simple, although I cringed at the addition of eight eggs, since egg prices are a bit high at the moment. With additions of delicious ingredients like blackberry jam and softened butter, I knew the cake would be a moist, delicious treat for my family.
The recipe suggests baking the jam cake for 35 minutes, but because I poured all of the batter into one Bundt pan, it took a bit longer for my cake tester to come out of the cake clean—about 45 minutes. As the cake cooled on a wire rack, my entire house smelled like baked goods and fresh berries, and everyone kept asking when they could cut into it. But before it was time to serve the cake, I scrolled comments from Allrecipes users to see how I should ice it. I settled on whipping up a quick glaze from milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar, and then dusted the top with some extra powdered sugar and served with a few fresh blackberries as a garnish.
What Does Jam Cake Taste Like?
When it was finally time to taste Georgia’s Tennessee Jam Cake, my family was thrilled with the flavors. This cake tasted a lot like banana bread—dense and moist and filling—with just a touch of sweetness and an added richness of flavor from the jam. It’s a cake that you can serve at dinner with berries and ice cream or nibble on for breakfast, due to its bread-like density. And, with eight eggs mixed into the batter, it’s a pretty filling dessert that sticks with you long after you’ve eaten your fill.
Would I make jam cake again? Definitely. The recipe was one of the easiest cakes I’ve made from scratch and it wasn’t overly sweet, making it a great medium for topping with whipped cream or ice cream and maybe some warm berry compote. I can see why families bring the dessert out on holidays, as it’s heavy and dense and serves a crowd, in addition to tasting pretty delicious.
Get the recipe: Georgia’s Tennessee Jam Cake
