With canning season just a month or two away, I’ve taken stock of last year’s bounty and have switched gears from rationing to gobbling and giving away my goodies to make way for this year’s crop of jars. So we’re ploughing through the brandied peaches, pickles, fruit butters, jams and relishes that have made it this far.

Which leads me to my latest kick: baking with jam. The Brits do this best, especially in retro delights like the jam roly poly (a.k.a. dead man’s leg), a pudding that’s loosely strudel-like in appearance, usually made with suet and spread with jam. Or in the Victorian-era pudding that goes by the name of general satisfaction (best name for a dessert, ever?), a creamy, meringue-y, jammy mess.

I was inspired to make my own jammy pudding (you know the Brits use the term ‘pudding’ as a catch-all term for dessert, right?) when I picked up a secondhand copy of Supper for a Song by Tamasin Day-Lewis the other day. Day-Lewis, sister of actor Daniel, is an accomplished food writer with a flair for conjuring up brilliant book titles (Tarts With Tops On, Good Tempered Food), who hasn’t much crossed over into North America. I dig her wild mane of black curly hair and arty bohemian vibe. I also have her excellent The Art of the Tart.

Here, then, is my adapted version of Day-Lewis’ almond cake with apricot jam, using up some of my own tangy apricot-plum jam from last August and making a few substitutions (vanilla extract and granulated sugar stand in for vanilla sugar, more jam is used in the topping). Really, you can use any of your jams to great effect in this especially moist dessert. The result is very almond-y, so marzipan-disdainers move on, or, if you want less of that intense almond flavour, simply omit the extract.

Almond cake with apricot-plum jam (adapted from Tamasin Day-Lewis’ Supper for a Song)

3 cups almond meal

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp almond extract (optional)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

zest of one lemon

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp jam plus 3 tsp water for topping

Preheat oven to 320 F/160 C. Butter and flour an 8-inch/20cm springform cake tin or pan, or line with parchment paper and butter and flour the paper. Beat together eggs and sugar until light and feathery, then fold in almond meal, lemon zest and almond extract (if using). Beat in eggs one at a time, then sift together flour and baking powder and fold into the batter. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Let the cake cool then turn onto a plate. To make the topping, melt the jam and water over medium heat and stir for a minute or two, then pour over the cake, allowing it to spread over the top and drip down the sides. Serve with whipped cream, ice cream or creme fraiche.