Summer’s sendoff, Fall’s prelude, and the successful results of my first-time grape foraging (is it considered foraging if I only had to walk about 50 feet behind my house?).
This recipe involved many firsts for me actually—including my first attempt at canning. Canning is an art I’ve long admired as many years have passed by in which I’ve only watched from the kitchen table, or tasted from a care package, the fruits of my Aunts’ preservation prowess. From apple butter to bread and butter pickles, mustard, and tomato sauce, they’ve mastered the methods of putting up an entire Summer’s worth of harvests for us all to enjoy. I can’t forget to mention Linda’s raspberry jam, made from her legendary grove of Sharpless family bushes. Some families pass down photos, china, or jewelry—the Sharpless’ on the other hand prefer to pass down plants.
Last Spring Betty walked me through the process of water-bath canning for the first time via grape jelly in addition to her pink applesauce (which takes on a blush-hue if you leave on the skin!). And while the scent of boiling concord juice and masses of sugar was certainly intoxicating, I myself prefer a jam over jelly and one that happens to taste more like fruit than snow cone syrup. So for my own batch, I decided to use a recipe that enlists the help of low sugar pectin, which allows for the use of a significantly lower level of sugar for the jam to set. Some low or no sugar pectins include dextrose (a highly potent sweetener ) to allow the home canner to reduce the total sugar necessary. However, my preferred brand is Pomona’s, which uses calcium to bind together the pectin molecules (traditional methoxyl pectin jams are bound together by sugar and acid).
The recipe is actually one of theirs and can be adjusted for however much fruit you're able to get a hold of (I barely made it to 4 cups of pulp and skins post-harvesting once the peeling and mashing were all said and done). I highly recommend finding your Mom’s old foley mill for this one— you’ll be glad you have it when it comes time to sieve out all the pesky seeds in the concords.
If you can, definitely try to make some Concord Grape Jam this season. If you can’t get your hands on any and aren’t lucky enough to find a rouge vine running through your suburban neighborhood’s walking trails, go for your favorite summer jam. Plum would be lovely in this cake, or apricot. A marmalade would work beautifully rippled through it too. Oh, and I can’t imagine how wonderful a wild blueberry may be tucked inside the batter.
This cake is a blank canvas, and if you're a purist and prefer to make the cake sans jam swirls, it will still be equally as enjoyable. Next, I’m going to try adding an olive oil crumble on top to make a chichi coffee cake situation. Let your mind (and whatever fruits are hanging out in the back of your fridge or in the bottom of your freezer) guide you to your very own state of simple, carefree, cake bliss.
Jam-Stuffed Sour Cream and Olive Oil Pound Cake
Ingredients:
1 cup of sour cream
1/3 cup olive oil (my favorite is Kyoord)
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup of your favorite jam
optional spices:
cinnamon, ginger, white pepper, cardamom— any of your favorites that pair best with your jam! Or none!
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350º F. Butter/ line either a standard loaf, 8” round springform, or bundt pan.
In your mixing bowl, whisk together the sour cream, olive oil, and sugar. Once thoroughly mixed, add the eggs one at a time.
With a flour sifter or fine-mesh sieve, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt directly over the wet ingredients. Using a spatula fold in the dry ingredients until just combined.
Pour 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan then dollop tablespoons of jam over the top of the batter. Swirl slightly with a toothpick, then pour the remaining batter evenly over top.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the sides of the cake begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, the top is golden, and a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.