Chocolate Jam Cake

With Polka Dot Collar

<Note: Once again Livewriter and Blogger are not working with each other so if this post looks a little off, my apologies>
 
The day has come to post my final blog. I get emotional leaving the blogging world and don’t know how to go about it…not quite ready to say goodbye so I will just say that I’m taking a long vacation…in that way, I can come back if I miss sharing the wonderfully, spectacular, amazing recipe I find on my vacation, right?

This has been a pretty busy year. The family room remodeling we started back in June finally finished last week, yay!  Four trips to see our grandchildren plus the contractor took a three week over-sea trip as well (we didn't see him for 5 weeks and I was a little worried) delayed the finish. During the extra hectic six months, I was just so ready to quit, however, I wanted to see the 5 year blog anniversary which came on December 4th. Now it’s time to do something new. 
I have made some great dishes, many were good, a few were so-so and the rest were nasty. I posted them all because I didn’t have a back-up. My readers are so kind leaving very nice comments each week. I’m truly grateful for that.
This recipe I chose for my last entry is Italian cake from my old cook book, somewhat dense though, the polka dots resemble falling snow…great fit for Christmas scene (don’t you think?) and has nostalgic mayonnaise cake like flavor.

Ingredients and Instruction for 1 nine inch cake pan (Print Recipe Here)

Necessary equipment – food scale, stand or hand held electric mixer, sifter, 9 inch round with at least 2-1/2 inch depth cake pan, parchment paper
For cake -

• 125g butter (1 stick and 1 Tablespoon), room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup strawberry jam
• 1/3 cup self rising flour*
• 1 cup all-purpose flour*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda*
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder*  Note: Combine all asterisk marked ingredients and sift 3 times, do not skip this process
  .
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

1. Grease inside of the pan with butter or oil. Cut parchment paper to fit bottom and side inside (1/2 taller than the pan) of the pan. Heat oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with mixer until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beat well after each addition. Then add strawberry jam, mix very well.
3. Fold in pre-sifted flour mixture alternately with buttermilk with large spatula. Stir until smooth but avoid over mixing.
   
4. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 45 minutes until wooden skewer comes out clean. Leave in the pan for 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool. Peel off the paper.
     

For White Chocolate Icing -

• 150g (4-3/4 oz) white chocolate, cut in small pieces though, not necessary if using round melts.
• 125g (4oz) butter, cubed
• 1/3 cup cream 

1. Combine chocolate, butter and cream in a small pan. Stir oven low heat until melted. Transfer into small bowl to cool, stirring occasionally. It will be semi-solid in about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
   
2. Transfer cake to serving plate. Spread sides and top of cake evenly.
   

For Chocolate Collar – measure the height , circumference of cake with ruler. Cut parchment paper accordingly.

• 40g (1-1/3oz) white chocolate, shaved
• 80g (2-2/3oz) dark chocolate, shaved
  

1. Melt white chocolate in double-boiler on low heat until creamy. Drop melted chocolate randomly on prepared paper strip and smooth  to flatten a little bit. Allow to set, about 40 minutes to 1 hour. Note: over-heating chocolate make the chocolate grainy so do not go beyond 120F. 96F is ideal temperature. I recommend to use instant read food thermometer.
   
2. Melt dark chocolate the same way as above. Working quickly, spread the chocolate evenly over the entire strip.
   
3. Immediately  wrap the chocolate side of paper around cake. Wait for the chocolate to set. Carefully peel the paper off. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Dust top with cocoa powder.
      

I put strawberry Santas on for seasonal effect – I loved that each Santa has his own character…’みんな違って、みんないい' We are all different and all wonderful!…famous quote of Misuzu Kaneko the Japanese poet.

Like I said, every blogger is different and all are wonderful! I come to enjoy each one of you and your gifts. I was inspired, got misty eyes and laughed out loud.
Thank you, thank you very much! I’m thankful for my husband also for huge part of creating, without him and his support this would have never happened. I will continue to follow you as much as I can. I am wishing you the very best…you all are awesome!
First time in three years, I put up a Christmas tree…the vaulted ceiling makes the tree look so small…but cute…

 I sincerely hope the season will bring you peace and love.