Homemade Jam

Anyone who knows me knows I love jam, on bread, in cakes, topped with cream on scones, or if I'm honest straight out the jar on a teaspoon. I always assumed making jam would be really hard and need loads of specialist equipment. I have vague memories as a child watching my mum make jam in a pan that looked like it would have fitted me in!

A friend offered to let me raid their fruit patch recently and I knew I had to grab some fresh berries and try making my own jam and I was beyond surprised by how easy it actually is. I used a non-stick pan with no issues and used a basic 1 to 1 ratio of berries and sugar and the jam is divine. I would absolutely recommend making sure you have at least double the amount of sterilized jars than you think you will need. I had to do an emergency dash to buy more and had jam stashed in everything I could find. I used a mixture of red and black currants but this recipe will work with whatever soft fruit you have to hand.

Ingredients:
1 part fruit
1 part granulated sugar

Method:
Pick over and wash your berries ensuring all the stems and any bugs and beasties have been removed. Carefully weigh out the berries and add them with the same weight of sugar to the biggest pan you have. Make sure the berries and sugar only half fill the pan at most or you will be scraping molten sugar off your cooker top as I learnt the hard way!

Place the pan over a low heat until all of the sugar is melted and the berries start to release their juice, this usually takes a few minutes. Once all the sugar is melted, bring the jam to a rolling boil where the bubbles can't be calmed by stirring them and maintain the boil for 10 -15 minutes until the mixture has reduced and starts to thicken.

Take a teaspoon of the mixture and place on a plate and leave to cool for a few minutes, taking the jam off the heat, then press the edge of the jam with your finger - if it wrinkles then the jam is ready and if your finger slides straight in the place the pan back on the heat for a little longer.

Once the jam has thickened, place the jam into jars, I used a funnel but spooning it in would work as well although would be messier. As soon as the jam is in the jars, pop the lids on tight to create a seal.

The jam will last around 6 months in theory but my jars lasted about 5 minutes.

Thank you for reading, when you make this please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!

Cherry and Ginger Cake

Inspired by my friend talking about making frangipani tarts, this cake combines all the classic flavours in a light and moist sponge. I baked the cake in a bundt tin for added interest and used one of my cake stands cause its fun to make everything look its best, I'm loving have access to all my baking goodies. I always struggle with cherries in cakes, no matter what I try, sometimes they are beautifully evenly distributed and others they sink like pebbles to the bottom - either way the cakes always taste epic so I'm not too worried but if you have and fail safe techniques please let me know. Enjoy the cake...

 Ingredients:
200g Glace Cherries
4 balls ginger in syrup
400g self raising flour
250g caster sugar
1 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
400ml soy milk
115ml sunflower oil
4 tsbp icing sugar
3 tsbp syrup from the ginger in syrup

Method:
Preheat your oven to 160c and grease a bundt tin using a little oil on a piece of kitchen roll. If you don't have a bundt tin, use a deep cake tin. Chop the cherries into quarters and mince the ginger, keeping the pieces reasonably small. Set to one side and place the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl and whisk together. Fold in the cherries and ginger to coat with the flour mix - this is supposed to stop the cherries sinking in the mix but I find it has varied results.

Add the golden syrup, vanilla, almond, milk and oil and mix thoroughly until all of the flour is incorporated and the mix is a creamy consistency with the cherries evenly distributed. Carefully pour the mixture into the pre-prepared tin, trying to give an even spread of cherries. Place in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes until the top is golden brown, the sides are pulling away from the tin and a skewer comes out clean.

Once the cake is baked, place on a cooling rack in the tin for 10 minutes before running a spatula around the sides and shaking gently to loosen the cake off - I would advise doing this without your other half standing watching as the added pressure makes flipping the tin over onto a cooling rack a million times harder!

Allow the cake to fully cool then place on a plate or cake stand, it should slid pretty easily from the rack to the plate. Mix together the icing sugar and the ginger syrup to create a reasonably thick but still pourable icing. Drizzle the icing over the top of the cake, allowing it to run down the sides.

I left the cake as is but it would look beautiful topped with edible flowers as more of a centre piece.

Please try making this as I know you'll love it as much as I do, take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife.

Thank you!