Stephen’s birthday is tomorrow, and when I asked him what kind of cake he wants, he said it should be something with chocolate and raspberry. The recipe I’m making, a Raspberry Tunnel of Fudge Cake, calls for two ingredients I don’t generally have around: buttermilk and raspberry jam. In anticipation of my baking, Stephen picked up a quart and a 20-oz jar, respectively—but the recipe only calls for 1 ½ cups of buttermilk and 1/3 cup of jam. I was facing a major surplus; for the jam it’s no big deal since it won’t go bad, but the milk… Imagine my delight when I saw Luisa’s post over on The Wednesday Chef, for Blueberry Bannock Scones: Not only does the recipe call for buttermilk, it’s also got wheat germ and chopped pecans, two ingredients I’m always happy to use. Luisa described the end result, with a layer of whole blueberries baked between scone batter, as “jammy”—dingdingding! I could substitute about 1/3 cup of my raspberry jam for the blueberries, leave out the extra sugar, and be on my way towards using up my excess.
Other than that small substitution I made the recipe exactly as Luisa posted it, so I won’t repeat it here (if you haven’t already checked out The Wednesday Chef, by the way, I urge you to head on over—it’s one of my favorites, filled with warmth and humor and fabulous pictures). The end result was wonderful: tender and crumbly, and slightly tart from the oozing jam. It’s a virtuous-tasting scone, though, not a decadent one (which makes me pretty happy)—the recipe doesn’t have a ton of butter or eggs, and the wheat germ and pecans make it taste almost like it’s made with whole wheat flour. Very satisfying on a rainy April weekend, and definitely something I’ll make again.