Because of a wet and cold summer, the blackberries on Gabriola Island were late this year. We had expected to pick gallons and gallons of them in the weeks leading up to the wedding. Our plan was to make blackberry jam for our guests and also for the filling of the gluten-free lemon blackberry wedding cake that my mother and her sisters were going to bake. We ended up having to come up with another solution for our gift jam because the very first batch of blackberries came ripe just in time for us to pick just enough for the wedding cake filling, a few days before the baking began.
It was lovely to be in the sun, with the sound of bees buzzing and the smell of blackberries baking on the vine. I had picked all of the blackberries in immediate reach and was yearning for a cluster of particularly plump berries just beyond my grasp. My very tall fiance reached out and pulled the berries that I was longing for right into my reaching hand. I thought…”I am going to marry this man” and I was overwhelmed with happiness.
My mother made the blackberries that we picked into this not too sweet jam to fill our wedding cake. She is a librarian, so when I asked her to send the recipe also cited her resources in a thorough manner (see below).
Wilson, Dede. Wedding cakes You Can Make. Wiley Pub. INc. Hoboken, NJ. 2005. p.81.
FRESH BLACKBERRY JAM FILLING
Makes 3 cups. Make 2 recipes to have enough for the Gluten-Free Lemon Blackberry Wedding Cake.
Make up to 4 days ahead
- 4 cups blackberries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons water (optional)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice

About six of wedding guests went out to pick more fresh blackberries the day before the wedding for the cake decoration and they came back scarred and torn. Apparently, our friend Janese had picked more berries than everyone else combined by attaching her bucket to her pants and using both hands (as well as her super powers of superior energy).
My mum and I picked one more batch of blackberries after the wedding and made more of the jam for the camper honeymoon. Chris and I ate it with bread fried in butter for breakfast every morning!
My Grandma used to make bread fried in butter for us. Homemade bread and jam.It was delicious – haven’t thought of it for years.