After all the jam making yesterday actually posting the recipe was beyond me. Today, in the bright light of late summer, the jam is officially delicious, the hob is still not working and the electrician has been called and having proved beyond doubt that this jam is virtually idiot proof, I feel more than satisfied that I can pass on the recipe in good conscience. I’ve also thrown in the recipe for pear and blackberry cake.Recipes
Pear and blackberry cake

This cake is a hot sponge (the milk and butter are heated) and is quite delicious served as a warm pudding. It can easily be adapted to any ingredients you have on hand, so feel free to use whatever fruit / nut combinations you would like.

Mix:

• 2 large free range eggs
• 1 1/4 cups of vanilla sugar
• 1 t of vanilla extract

Beat very well

Melt:

• 3/4 cup organic milk
• 50 g organic unsalted butter
• 1 star anise

Sift:

• 1 1/2 cups organic plain flour
• 3 flat t baking powder

Butter an oven proof cake dish

Layer in pieces of slice pear (peeled) and sprinkle with sugar. This sugar can always be spiced, according to the flavours of your fruit. For this one, place two whole star anise on the bottom of the cake to infuse.

Mix the eggs into the flour with a wooden spoon

Stir in the hot milk (reserving the star anise)

Pour batter over the pears

Toss the blackberries to very lightly cover them with flour. This stops them sinking to the bottom and helps suspend them in the batter.

sprinkle some more sugar on the top and swirl around

Bake the cake for 45 minutes @ 180*C

Check the centre is cooked with a skewer, if not bake for another 5 – 10 minutes.

Meanwhile make the sauce:

• 50g organic butter
• 1 cup organic milk
• 1 cup vanilla sugar
• the star anise used earlier

Boil until syrupy

Poke holes in the cake with the skewer and pour this sauce all over, allowing it to soak in.

Serve warm or cold. We had it with extra tart berries and fresh double cream.

Damson Jam

Surprisingly, this jam is actually very straight forward. Don’t be put off by my ineptitude, just remember to make sure that your fruit takes up no more than half of your pan, and that your pan does actually fit on one of your hob plates. It will be very difficult to get it up to setting temperature otherwise.

This basic recipe can be used for damsons or plums.

• For every kg of fruit you will need 1kg of granulated or preserving sugar, and 1.4 litres of water.
• Wash the fruit and place in your pan
• Cover wth the water and bring to the boil.
• Once boiling, reduce to a simmer until the fruits are soft
• Stir in the sugar, and once melted return to the boil
• As the fruit boils the damsons will release their stones, which you can skim off with a slotted spoon
• Boil until the jam reaches 105*C / 220*F
• Leave to cool for ten minutes, and then bottle and seal

If you do not have a jam thermometer you can drop a teaspoon of jam onto a chilled plate. Leave it for a minute and then push it with your finger. It should wrinkle up. If it does, it’s set. If it wrinkles only slightly it needs a little more time.

Always work very carefully with hot jam. Because of the high sugar content, burns can be severe.

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