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Kentucky Bourbon Butter Cake and Caramel Pound Cake

Kentucky Jam Cake

Moist spice cake with blackberry jam, walnuts, and caramel frosting—a blue‑ribbon Southern favorite
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Ingredients
  

  • - 2 ½ cups all‑purpose flour
  • - ¼ tsp salt
  • - 1 tsp allspice
  • - ½ tsp cinnamon
  • - 1 cup chopped walnuts + 2 Tbsp flour
  • - 1 cup margarine or butter, softened
  • - 2 cups sugar
  • - 5 eggs
  • - 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • - 1 cup buttermilk
  • - 1 tsp baking soda
  • - 1 cup blackberry jam not jelly
  • ### Caramel Frosting
  • - 2 cups brown sugar packed
  • - ½ cup butter
  • - ⅓ cup evaporated milk
  • - 2 cups powdered sugar
  • - 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions
 

  • **Prep:** Heat oven to 325 °F. Grease & flour three 8‑ or 9‑in pans.
  • **Dry mix:** Whisk flour, salt, allspice, cinnamon.
  • **Coat walnuts** with 2 Tbsp flour.
  • **Cream:** Beat margarine & sugar 3 min until fluffy.
  • **Eggs & vanilla:** Add eggs one at a time; beat in vanilla.
  • **Buttermilk soda:** Stir soda into buttermilk.
  • **Combine:** Add flour mix alternately with buttermilk on low.
  • **Jam & nuts:** Fold in jam, then walnuts.
  • **Bake:** Divide batter into pans; bake 55–65 min until toothpick clean. Cool completely.
  • **Frosting:** Boil brown sugar, butter, milk 3 min. Cool 5 min; whisk in powdered sugar & vanilla. Frost layers quickly.

Notes

- Substitute pecans for walnuts.
- Bundt option: Bake 65–70 min.
- Store iced cake at room temp up to 5 days.