Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Cook the Book: Lemon Blueberry Buckle

Posted by Caroline Russock, June 5, 2009 at 1:30 PM

I had never heard of the dessert known as a Buckle until a few weeks ago. I was at one of Beer Table's fantastic Tuesday night beer pairing dinners and the dessert was a blueberry buckle. It was somewhere in between a cake and a fruit crisp, and it was fantastic.

A buckle is a popular New England dessert that's made by adding berries or sliced fruit to a single layer of cake batter. During baking, the fruit sinks and the cake emerges from the oven with a "buckled" appearance. This Lemon Blueberry Buckle from Rustic Fruit Desserts adds an extra tang to the blueberries with the additions of buttermilk to the cake batter, and a lemon glaze on top. Authors Julie Richardson and Cory Schreiber claim that a buckle makes a great breakfast, and I'm not going to argue with that.

Win 'Rustic Fruit Desserts'

As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Rustic Fruit Desserts to give away this week. Enter to win here »

Lemon Blueberry Buckle

- serves 6 to 8 -

Adapted from Rustic Fruit Desserts by Julie Richardson and Cory Schreiber.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature, for pan

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (2 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup (2 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cubed

Cake

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (8 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups (10 ounces) blueberries, fresh or frozen

Lemon Syrup

1/3 cup (2 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
Juice of 2 lemons

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.

2. To make the crumb topping, mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest together in a bowl, then add the butter and use a fork or your fingers to cut the butter until the size of peas. Place the topping in the freezer while you mix the cake batter.

3. To make the cake, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg together in a bowl. Using a handheld mixer with beaters or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the flour mixture in three additions, beginning and and ending with the dry ingredients and scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Gently fold in 1 cup of the blueberries, spread the batter into the prepared pan, and distribute the remaining 1 cup of blueberries over the cake.

4. Sprinkle the chilled crumb topping over the berries, then bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until lightly golden and firm on top.

5. To make the glaze, combine the sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and whisk until blended. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, until syrupy. The glaze will bubble while cooking, so you may need to remove it from the heat to check that it is thick enough.

6. Pour the glaze over the cake as soon as it is removed from the oven. Reheat the syrup briefly if it has become too thick to pour.

Storage: Covered in plastic wrap, the buckle will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.

3 Comments Favorite this!  (3)

Tags: blueberries, Cook the Book, Cory Schreiber, desserts, fall recipes, Julie Richardson, lemon, Rustic Fruit Desserts