Jam Crumb Cake

This cake is good to the last crumb!  My friends and I have been exchanging jams for the holidays for years.   One time we got together one of my friends baked this recipe for our get together.  Since I so often make goodies for the little volunteer coffee gathering in my community, Higher Grounds, I asked her to share her recipe with me.  I recently made it for the little coffee gathering using Nebbiolo Jelly made by one of our friends at Flipjack Ranch in Bonny Doon, California.  She made her Nebbiolo Jelly from wine grapes on her ranch.  On the label she rights:

 “Not your childhood grape jelly!  Our Ranch grown Nebbiolo grape harvest was too small to make wine, so we made jelly.  savor the delicate tones of raspberry from the drought stressed fruit.”

The Jam Crumb Cake recipe was published in a December 2007 version of Gourmet magazine.  I chose to remove the salt and use salted butter.  The recipe calls for melted butter in both the cake and crumb topping.  It is also possible to cream the butter with the sugar, add the egg then dry ingredients.   It’s your call how you prefer making the recipe.

For cake:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup jam preserves

For crumb topping:

• 3/4 stick butter
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Make cake:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Butter a 9-inch cake pan.  I like to use a springform pan as it make it easier to display it before serving.  The recipe simply suggests a round or square 9-inch cake pan.

If you choose to melt the butter for the cake, stir dry ingredients together (flour, sugar and baking powder).  In a large bowl, whisk an egg, stir in the milk and then add the melted butter.  Then gently fold in the dry ingredients until just combined.  Pour tater into the cake pan.  Add dollops of jam all over the surface, then swirl the jam into the batter with a spoon.

Make crumb topping:

Combine the melted butter, sugars and cinnamon until smooth.  Stir in flour, then blend with your fingertips until incorporated.  Sprinkle crumb topping in large clumps over top of the cake batter.

Bake cake about 25 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserts in the center, comes out clean and the sides begin to pull away from the pan.   Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.

Remove the springform side from the cake and server on a platter.