Regional Specialty: Kentucky Jam Cake

I just finished reading Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund and am now obsessed with the idea of Kentucky Jam Cake! In the book, the cake ends up becoming the way for the main character to keep ties with her childhood roots. Remembering our Hungry Reader Month from almost a year ago, I decided to do some digging for the recipe...

I found a few recipes, but not too much on the history or origins of this recipe. It's sometimes referred to as "Southern Jam Cake," but Kentucky seems to be universally acknowledged as its birthplace.

The cake batter is flavored with warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, and then it's mixed with either blackberry or strawberry jam. In some versions, the cake is frosted with a boiled buttermilk icing, and in other versions, it's a caramel icing.

Here are a few recipes I found:

Kentucky Jam Cake from Mountain Breeze
Kentucky Jam Cake from About.com
Kentucky Jam Cake from Old Fashioned Living

The combination of spices, jam, and caramel-y frosting sounds very intriguing! Does anyone know more about this cake?

• Buy a copy of Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund for $11.43 on Amazon.com.

(Image: Flickr member Andrea_R licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (4)

Four years of living in KY and I only had my first Jam Cake a few months ago. It's like every sweet morsel of Christmas goodies rolled up in one bite.

posted by pomme on February 25th 2009 at 6:18pm
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i'm making it this weekend. i wonder which recipe to use ...

posted by Joan in SB on February 25th 2009 at 9:05pm
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I'm planning on making this recipe this weekend too and will use the third link (as it's the most specific and seems to jibe well with what I think will taste good). :)

posted by BetsyGinDC on February 26th 2009 at 8:20am
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Absolutely! I'm a KY native and my parents (both who are docs) get at least 3 or 4 of these every Christmas from patients and friends. They are very delish, but some are better than others. I'm not a baker, but I can try and pull a recipe for here from my great-grandmother's cookbook if I can remember. The cake should be quite dense and very moist. I've only ever had it made with blackberry jam (homemade is so much better, of course!) and caramel icing, which is the part of the recipe that intimidates me. While the nuts (black walnuts or pecans, most traditionally) are crucial in my opinion, I think that the raisins almost make it too sweet with all the jam and sugar, so I like versions that leave those out. Tell us all how it goes!

posted by lotusmoss on February 26th 2009 at 10:12am
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