One-Pot Wonders

Marbled Jam Cake

by:
August 24, 2014
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Marbled Jam Cake
  • Serves 8
Author Notes

I love to preserve fruit, and at times end up with one too many open jars (or jars that didn't seal properly) of jam/whole-fruit preserves in my fridge. Enter this quick cake, made in *one bowl* with less than a stick of butter and no eggs (not resource-intensive, in other words). It's an earthy, not-too-sweet cake that actually started as a fruit cobbler recipe, which morphed into a buckle, and now a cake. You could up the sugar to 1/2 cup. A preserve that is fairly liquid with larger chunks of fruit will work as I describe, but if you have something more solid, just stir it with a fork to loosen it up. A few fresh berries or pieces of fresh fruit sprinkled throughout the batter won't hurt matters, either.

It's a very flexible recipe, as long as you keep your liquid, fat and flour ratio intact. I suppose you could substitute a gluten-free flour mixture, or could use just all-purpose flour. If you have oatmeal, you can grind it into oat flour (about 1/2 cup oats will create 1/3 cup oat flour). —Raquelita

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1/3 cup oat flour (40g)
  • 1/3 cup buckwheat flour (40g)
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (40g)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if you are using salted butter)
  • 1/3 cup sugar (67g)
  • large pinches grated nutmeg or spice of your choice
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
  • 1/4 cup quick oats (20g) or rolled oats (the latter will remain chewy in the completed cake)
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt (if you only have greek style, you'll need to increase the amount of milk)
  • 1/8 to 1/4 cups whole milk (milk and yogurt can be interchanged, or replaced by buttermilk)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
  • 1/2 to 2/3 cups simple, runny, fruit-based jam or preserves, preferably with pieces of fruit
Directions
  1. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spice and sugar together with a whisk in a medium bowl.
  2. Add the butter, and squeeze the cubes into the flour with your fingers, as you might with a pastry dough, until you have a mealy consistency.
  3. Add the yogurt, a splash of milk and vanilla extract. Stir to completely combine--it should be like thick cake batter, not watery but not as stiff as a muffin or biscuit dough. If you need to thin it, use the greater amount of milk.
  4. Use a few turns of a wooden spoon to fold in the rolled oats.
  5. Pour into a buttered 9" pie plate (a round cake tin works, too). The batter will rise considerably, so don't go for anything smaller unless it has high sides.
  6. Drop 3-5 generous dollops of your jam on top of the batter.
  7. Use a table knife to drag the jam strategically throughout the batter. Resist the urge to stir and blend. Use a few (ok, maybe several) carefully-planned drags to marbleize the jam into the batter, starting in the dollop of jam and moving the knife (or the pie plate) in simple arcs. Add smaller spoonfuls and streaks as you see fit.
  8. Bake in a 350 degree (preheated) oven for 35-40 minutes. The center should be firm and the jam fairly well hidden under the golden, risen cake.
  9. Let cool at least 1 hour. Yes, the cake will fall in places where the jam had been hot and bubbly.
  10. Slice and serve wedges with whipped cream or ice cream, or eat with a big spoon.
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