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Blueberry Buckle

Posted by Elise on Aug 10, 2005

Filed under Bakery, Dessert, Seasonal Favorites: Summer

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Hanging out with my dad is like living in a test kitchen. Dad's baking experiments are the bane of anyone's low carb diet. One must have formidable willpower to resist his creations, and fortunately for my taste buds, I don't. This morning we baked a blueberry buckle, the recipe of which was retrieved from an aging newspaper clipping, cut years ago. (When I say "we", my participation included observing the ingredients the night before, sleeping in this morning, and photographing and documenting the results.) What is a buckle you might ask? According to the recipe, a buckle is an old-fashioned, single-layer cake with a streusel-type topping. The batter is quite dense. As the cake bakes, the batter sinks to the bottom of the pan, which makes the streusel buckle on top. In other words, a coffee cake. It in fact tastes much like our family favorite apple coffee cake, but with blueberries instead, like one giant blueberry muffin. Delicious.

Blueberry Buckle Recipe

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Ingredients

Cake ingredients:

2 cups and 1-2 Tbsp of sifted, all purpose flour separated
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 pint blueberries

Topping ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup sifted all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease an 8-inch springform pan. Set aside.

2 Sift together the 2 cups of flour, the baking powder and the salt. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg. Add the flour mixtrue in 3 parts, alternating with the milk. Toss the beries with the remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour (to separate and scatter evenly throughout the batter) and fold in. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Set aside.

3 Combine ingredients for topping with a fork to make crumbly mixture. Sprinkle this over the batter.

4 Bake for one hour, then test for doneness by gently inserting a fork. If it does not come out clean, give the cake another 5 to 10 minutes to bake.

5 When the cake has cooled, run a knife around the edges and lift the cake out o the pan. Serve with whipped cream.

Indexed: Blueberries, Cake

26 Comments

Hi Elise,

I made this last night and it was wonderful! Great with my after dinner and my morning coffee. I'm definitely going to make this again.

Posted by: Reid on August 3, 2004 12:00 AM

Hi Elise,

Both hubby & I love blueberries. Bought 10 pints of blueberries at the store yesterday because it was only 99 cents each. Just made your blueberry buckle this afternoon & couldn't believe how easy it was for someone like me who is a disaster in the kitchen! It came out magnificent. Even hubby who don't like muffin loves it! We didn't let it cooled, it is so delicous warm! I think I'll have it with vanilla ice cream after dinner tonight, yum, yum. Thank you for sharing this great recipe.

Posted by: Kat on August 15, 2004 2:41 PM

Growing up (born/adopted from Korea in 1960), my mother (born 1918!) used to make this for me all the time. It was one of my all-time favorite recipes. Great to see both you and Lee Bailey have found it out, too, and have published it. I had just recently lost my recipe and was searching the internet for a copy, and yours fit the bill as to what I remembered my mom wrote down for me years ago. Great to find it! Thanks!

Posted by: Cheryl A. Sharps on August 19, 2004 11:15 PM

This is an excellent recipe been using it since the 1970's.

Posted by: Fred Swanson on March 26, 2005 3:37 PM

Oh man, this is the best.cake.ever.

I make it for myself for my birthday every couple of years and could eat the entire thing by myself!

Posted by: kamylyon on July 15, 2005 8:48 PM

This is the first time I've ever seen a post about blueberry buckle - it's one of my favorite parts of summer. My mom makes it from a recipe from HER childhood - it is goodness and memories and warmth. Beautiful picture!

Posted by: Julia on August 16, 2005 11:16 AM

Hi, Elise. My father in law used to make this for us when we would visit. So good, in fact, my son requested the recipe when he went off to college, and now I make it whenever he comes home to visit...it's our breakfast cake, our sneak in and snack cake & middle of the night cake!!! We recently moved cross country & haven't yet found my notebook of family recipes. He's coming home for Turkey Day, so I am so glad to have found the recipe. Yummmmm

Posted by: Gwen on November 23, 2005 4:26 PM

I make this all the time and everyone loves it. It's also good with raspberries or blackberries.

Posted by: Cathy on February 2, 2006 10:50 AM

I just made this with some Frozen Blueberries last night and it is a big hit!

I am definitely coming back for another recipe soon! :)

Posted by: Chloe on March 29, 2006 5:54 AM

Blueberry Boy Bait.

It's like a buckle but not quite. The mother of one of my dad's co-workers, Mrs. Aglio, used to make this when we were growing up ... we loved going to visit Mrs. Aglio!

This recipe from Yankee Magazine.
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/recipes/search/onerecipe.php?number=177

In Colonial New England, it was said that a woman who made this cake could find herself a man, thus the epithet. Serve warm or cold, for dessert or breakfast. Try it with fresh cream.

2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar [you can use as little as 1]
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 to 3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup (or less) sugar [you can use as little as 2 or 3 tablespoons]
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl mix the first 7 ingredients with an electric mixer for 3 minutes. Pour the mixture into a greased and floured 9x13-inch baking pan. Arrange the blueberries on top, then mix together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the batter. Bake 50 minutes.

Posted by: jgsearls on July 26, 2006 8:44 AM

Good cake, I suggest 3/8 cup butter (3/4 stick) instead of 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick) simply to add moisture. Also, I cooked 58 minutes and the topping was slightly burnt. I suggest either adding the topping 5 minutes into the cooking or cooking for a shorter period (which will also retain moisture). I attempted cooking for only 55 minutes and it was excellent chilled with a cold whipped topping or strawberry syrup. Enjoy!

Posted by: Phil on August 2, 2006 5:51 PM

This recipe sounds ok, but the way I have made a buckle is slightly different. The recipe I use is a modified version of one from culinary school. It's a close version of your batter poured in a 9x9 pan, mixed berries poured over that and a crumble topping. The topping is flour, sugar, brown sugar and butter, mixed like biscuits. It is amazing hot with some ice cream.

Posted by: Manuel on May 16, 2007 10:56 PM

This buckle is verry good but here's a good way to make it sugar free

Cake ingredients:
2 cups and 1-2 tbsp of sifted, all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup of butter
1/3 cup of splenda
1 lg egg
1/2 cup of milk
1 pint of blueberries

topping ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup of splenda (or until crumbly)
2/3 cup sifted all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

(cook the same way)

Posted by: Jennifer Corwin on June 27, 2007 1:55 PM

Can this batter be used in a muffin pan? I rather make muffins than a cake.

Posted by: Blueberry gal on July 8, 2007 10:04 PM

I am dying to try the blueberry buckle, but only have a 9" springform pan. Will it work in that, or will it be too flat? I'll probably have to reduce the cooking time, too, right? Thanks!

Posted by: Susan on August 7, 2007 9:39 AM

I made this recipe this morning. I have memories of Mom making blueberry buckle for us as kids and enjoying it. I don't have her recipies, so finding this when looking for recipies to make with the blueberries we picked, was great.
It is as good as I remember. No whipped cream necessary. I only had a 10" springform pan so I used 1 & 1/2 times the recipie. It worked well. Thank you so very much for sharing this recipie.

Posted by: Martha Michalek on August 18, 2007 7:58 AM

Excellent cake

Posted by: Magnolia on November 10, 2007 12:33 AM

I love this recipe. I make it every week and eat the whole thing myself. Sometimes after making another cake I think about sharing it with the old neighbor across the street... but every time I finish it off before I can get out the door. Maybe I should rethink my priorities... hmmm. Oops gotta go the timer just went off.

Posted by: Tubby on January 30, 2008 9:24 AM

This is the first thing I've made from this site that has been disappointing. The cake was dry and tasteless, and I even took it out after only 50 minutes because I was concerned about it drying out. If it weren't for the blueberries and streusel it wouldn't be edible. I would suggest the Blueberry Cake recipe instead, it's far better and uses basically the same ingredients.

That's weird, this is one of our favorite recipes. We make it all the time in blueberry season. ~Elise

Posted by: Sarah on February 17, 2008 1:59 PM

Another winner for recipe box. DH asked for more berries in next one, suppose it would only make this buckle even better! Baked a bit larger than I expected, felt a wee bit guilty making it just for us, 'til we tasted it. Plenty enough for guests or take along to an event. Yes, spring-form pan is a must, makes a lovely presentation, wouldn't want to hide the beautiful berry edges on this one. Thank you kindly for this yummy recipe.

Posted by: Hotfootsue on March 15, 2008 4:32 PM

Made this tonight--it was very good! I had thought perhaps I had done something wrong since the batter was so stiff I had difficulty folding the blueberries in, but it all came right after cooking. Mine needed the 10 extra minutes, after which we ate almost the whole thing before it cooled off.

Posted by: Jeanine on May 30, 2008 12:45 AM

My grandmother discovered this recipe in a newspaper years ago and started making it. I have always loved it. Now I am glad to have the recipe so I can make it for her, as she doesn't bake much anymore. Thanks!

Posted by: Elise (a different one) on July 15, 2008 8:59 AM

Thanks to Manuel for the sugar free version! As a diabetic I always love the diabetic-friendly/sugar-free versions! I make the sugar-full version for the family - they ate the whole thing in one night!

Posted by: Barb on August 13, 2008 11:10 AM

I made this for our 4th of July BBQ dinner and it was so great and so moist! Everyone loved it and it was GONE by the end of the dinner ;) I have not baked in about a year and a half due to illness and this was my first attempt....thanks for helping me make a flawless treat for the first time in a while! I will make this over and over again :)

Posted by: Helena on July 6, 2009 8:10 PM

I made your Blueberry Buckle today. Well mine was a Blueberry Unbuckle, lol. It didn't fall as much is I thought it would. I haven't tried it yet, I'm saving it for dinner with my parents tomorrow night. I know if will be a hit they love anything I bake and only somethings the things I cook, lol.

Posted by: Jen on July 17, 2009 9:43 PM

Wow, just made this for dessert tonight, and it is soooo good! Light, moist and delicious. I bake alot, and my DH even was wowed by it. I made it in a 9" springform as I don't have an 8", and baked it for 50 mins, came out PERFECT. Thanks!

Posted by: AnnieBee on July 22, 2009 4:23 PM

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Blueberry Buckle

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Blueberry Buckle Recipe