Blueberry Buckle is a deliciously tender lemon kissed cake studded with fresh blueberries and topped with a sweet buttery streusel topping. This old fashioned recipe is a favorite to serve with coffee, tea or for dessert.
What is a buckle? A traditional buckle has a cake-like batter and is topped with fruit; as it cooks the cake rises around the fruit, or “buckles” around the fruit.
This delicious Blueberry Buckle is similar in texture to a coffee cake dessert my grandmother used to make; sweet, moist and delicious with a crumbly streusel topping. It’s pretty effortless and the end results are amazing! The simple from scratch base is made like most cake recipes, sugar, butter and egg are creamed together, then the remaining dry ingredients are added, alternating with the milk.
Blueberries make the most delicious addition to summer desserts and hold up well in baked goods like muffins and quick breads. The only thing better than a blueberry dessert is one that has been kissed with a bright lemony flavor. Zesting lemon is an easy way to add brightness to almost any dish, sweet or savory and if pairs perfectly with blueberries.
When zesting a lemon you want to be sure to only get the very outer edge of the skin, the yellow part because the white part (the pith) is bitter. I use either a microplane grater or a zester to get the most zest from each lemon.
Once zested, the lemon zest is added to the batter, fresh blueberries are gently folded in and it is spread into a prepared pan.
This cake is perfect as written but this recipe also makes amazing blueberry buckle muffins! Just divide the batter between your muffin cups and top with the streusel. Bake about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Blueberry buckle is amazing warm out of the oven but it also freezes beautifully. Simply bake as directed, cool completely and place in a very well sealed container. This will keep for a couple of months in the freezer and and still be wonderfully moist.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup shortening or butter
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups fresh blueberries
Topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
-Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease an 8×8-inch pan.
-Cream sugar, shortening, and egg in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture in 2 batches, alternating with milk, beating batter briefly after each addition. Fold in blueberries. Pour into the prepared pan.
Make topping:
-Combine sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon in a bowl; mix with your hands until crumbly. Sprinkle over cake batter.
-Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes.