Jam Tea Loaf

Here's the recipe for making cake with unset jam, used instead of sugar, which I mentioned in my post about what to do with failed jam. I first invented this recipe many years ago when I was a very poor student, and had a yearning for cake one day. Unfortunately I was out of sugar, and didn't have any money to buy some. However, there was half of a large economy-sized jar of marmalade in the fridge, which my room-mates and I had pretty much given up on eating some months earlier. Hmm, I thought... that's basically sugar. In it went, and the results were sufficiently good that I took notes, and have done it again regularly since, even though I can now go out and buy sugar whenever I want.

You obviously don't have to use failed jam for this. Perfectly good jam will work perfectly well, as will fairly mediocre jam such as the budget marmalade. Lovely with butter or a little smear of cream cheese. If you don't get it all eaten while it's fresh, it toasts nicely. One thing to note though, since jams vary in sweetness, it's a good idea to taste the batter before you put it in the baking tin. You may wish to stir in a little more sugar, anywhere from a tablespoon to a 1/4 cup, if you are using a jam which is low in sugar.

12 servings
1 hour 30 minutes - 15 minutes prep time



1 cup (250 ml) jam or marmalade
3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
1 extra-large egg

2 1/2 cups soft whole wheat flour
(OR 1/2 soft unbleached flour and 1/2 whole wheat)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup buttermilk or milk

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a standard loaf pan.

Mix together the jam, oil and egg in a mixing bowl. Stir the salt and baking powder into the flour. Mix the flour alternately into the jam mixture with the buttermilk. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan, and bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes until it passes the old straw test. It may be done a bit sooner - again, your jam will make a difference - so check it at the 1 hour point. In my experience though, it will take at least 10 minutes longer.




Last year at this time I made Maple Pudding.