The original version of this recipe, from the wonderful food blog Lottie and Doof, is for pineapple upside cake. In the summer I roast fresh plums with balsamic and use that for the base. In the middle of winter it’s all jam all the time. Apricot, blueberry, blackberry, peach all of them are a perfect compliment to the butter cake. And if the top sticks to the pan, don’t worry just scrape it out and patch it up. Once it’s cool you can’t tell the difference.

• 10 oz favorite jam
• 3 yolks
• ½ C buttermilk (or ¼ C yogurt thinned with milk)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 ½ C all purpose flour
• 2/3 C sugar
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 9 T butter

1. Heat oven to 350F
2. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and line with parchment and butter again
3. Spread the jam across the cake pan
4. In a medium bowl, whisk yolks, ¼ C buttermilk and vanilla
5. In a stand up mixer paddle the dry ingredients to combine
6. Add the remaining buttermilk and butter and mix until moistened
7. Scrape down sides and add the yolk mixture slowly in three additions letting the batter mix for 20 between additions.
8. Pour batter over jam and bake 40-50 min or until cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the center
9. Invert cake over serving platter and let rest for a few minutes before lifting pan
10. Remove parchment from top of cake and smooth any jam lumps
11. Serve warm or room temperature with softly whipped cream or crème fraiche