I found this cool old cookbook in my mother’s kitchen. I think she found it in her mother’s kitchen.

I probably won’t want to try the recipe for jellied chicken, though the one for shredded wheat with malted milk looks intriguing. But mixed in among these quaint items are lots of recipes that look fun to try. I found one recently that I thought could help me with my jam problem.

My jam problem:

Jam making season is almost here, but I still have lots of last year’s jam in the cupboard. I don’t think I can eat that much toast in such a short time.

The recipe I found is for “Blackberry Cake” and features blackberry jam.

Well, I have lots of that on hand.

I tried the recipe, adapting it to suit my taste (less fat and sugar, whole wheat flour). It came out pretty tasty. I tried it again with blueberry jam, also tasty. Probably any kind of jam would work. Here’s my version of the recipe:

Jam Cake

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 t baking soda

¼ t baking powder

1 t cinnamon

½ t cloves

6 T butter

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup jam

2 T milk

Mix together the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs, jam, and milk. Mix well. Fold in the dry ingredients. Bake at 350° in a greased loaf pan for 45 minutes. Let cool before slicing.

If you spread peanut butter on a slice, it might taste like a P,B & J sandwich.

In case you’re wondering, the blackberry jam I used was made from the wild blackberries that grow behind my house. The blueberries came from a pick-your-own farm.