A dark, spiced layer cake made with home-canned blackberry jam, often studded with nuts and raisins. The mountain holiday and celebration cake, built around the wild blackberries put up in summer.
Picking wild blackberries in the summer heat — and putting up jars of jam — was hard shared labor in mountain communities, often led by the women of Black households. The jam cake at Christmas was the payoff: a rich, dark celebration cake that turned a free summer harvest into a holiday centerpiece.
Blackberries are among the highest-antioxidant fruits, packed with anthocyanins and ellagic acid that fight inflammation and support brain and heart health. Even cooked into jam and cake, a meaningful share of those polyphenols survive. The wild blackberry was free medicine in the mountains; the jam cake carried its color and antioxidants into the winter celebration table.
Fold home-canned blackberry jam into a spiced batter (cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg) with buttermilk; bake in layers and fill with a caramel or buttermilk icing. Walnuts and raisins are traditional additions.
Free, no account needed to ask.