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Cloudberry jam is baked right into the top of this moist vanilla cake. Try it with a hot cup of tea and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

 Continuing with the clean-out-the-pantry theme, I had a couple jars of cloudberry freezer jam left from our fall berry picking. These delicious orange berries of the far north are only available for a few short weeks at the end of the Alaska summer. Growing in patches on small mounds across the boggy tundra, Akpik (the Inupiaq word for the berries) are at first a brilliant red before turning orange during their peak ripeness. We picked two gallons and turned them into some of the best jam, sorbet and ice cream we’ve ever eaten. Prized wherever they grow, (they’re protected by law in some European locales) cloudberries have a distinctive sweet flavor with a hint of agreeable tartness. They have become our favorite berry.

Cloudberry Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups cloudberry jam (or other jam)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Beat sugar and eggs until pale yellow (about 5 minutes). Beat in applesauce. Add vanilla and sour cream. Mix again.
3. Sift flour and baking powder together. Stir into egg mixture.
4. Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
5. Pour batter into springform pan.
6. Dot the jam on top of the cake batter. Poke some of the jam down into the batter.  Bake 45 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.