The days are rolling by so quickly.  I have had various work commitments over the past two weeks, so haven't had much time to bake.  I still wanted to give Alphabakes November Challenge, hosted by Caroline Makes and The More Occasional Baker, a go, but the letter of the month being "J", was a tricky one!  Hmm I couldn't really come up with much inspiration for "J", only Jam and Jelly came to mind and I couldn't quite come up with anything really exciting.  Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked is having a birthday challenge to celebrate one year of their challenges, with "Cake", so thought it would be perfect to enter my cake their too!

So after much deliberation, Jam Crumb Cake it was!!  Having made it twice over the past two weeks, once using raspberry jam, which seems to disappear, and then as below using blackberry jam with whole blackberries....it was brilliant.  The mix of sweetness from the crumble and the tartness of the berries in the jam, along with a vanilla sponge, worked well together and it went down a treat, on a rather cold evening last week!

Jam Crumb Cake

Grease and flour a 8 inch round tin, (mine was about 1 1/2 inches deep).

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

Cake:

5 oz plain flour

4 oz caster sugar

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

3 oz butter

125 ml milk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 oz (I added a bit more) jam

Crumb Topping

3 oz butter softened

2 oz brown sugar

2 oz granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

6 oz plain flour

For the Cake......Whisk all the ingredients together until combined and pale in colour and then pour into the prepared cake tin.  Dollop the jam on the surface of the cake mixture and lightly swirl in. 

For the Crumb Topping....Mix together the sugars, butter and cinnamon.  Stir in the flour and using your fingertips rub the mixture together  until it looks like breadcrumbs.  Sprinkle over the jam cake mixture.

Bake for 25 to 30 mins until golden and a cake tester/wooden pick, inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the tin.  

I have been wanting to bake up a storm all week, but I seem to be loosing my mojo very fast amongst other things too and yet baking is what makes me happy....but it hasn't been working this week!!

I came across The more occasional Baker and Caroline Makes by chance and they host a monthly Alpha Bakes challenge, with this months, host Ros, hosting the letter N.

With nuts off the menu in our house as my husband has an allergy, and most recipes beginning with a N have some sort of nuts in it........Neapolitan Mousse Cake was an option. I baked my three sponges in the same pan, to make a slim, layer cake.  

I used a 6oz victoria sponge mix ( 6 oz of each self raising flour, caster sugar, butter, 3 large eggs, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and the seeds from one vanilla pod). I divided each one equally and then added pink food colouring to one and three tablespoons of cocoa, mixed with two tablespoons warm water to the other.   I baked it at 180 degrees celcius for around 15 minutes.  

I filled the layers and outside with a soft chocolate mousse filling.  - equal weights of light double cream and dark chocolate, heated together and allowed to cool to a soft butter consistency, before stirring in some more hot melted chocolate, which sets quickly and make a mousse with chocolate bits in it.  (sweet but yummy).