If you’ve never heard of a Blueberry Buckle before, its origins are a bit mysterious.
Buckle has been in the United States for centuries, which leads many to believe it was developed by colonists. Buckle is extremely popular in New England, where it is often made with blueberries.
While blueberry buckle is the classic version, the dessert can also be made with peaches, nectarines, raspberries, and any other fresh fruit available. You can even mix several types of fruit in your buckle.
Lets start by gathering our ingredients (aka mise en place)to make this classic dish. It’s pretty straight forward and doesn’t require a lot of different ingredients.
The base of buckle consists of a rich cake batter, which is sprinkled with fresh fruit. Some cooks prefer to split their batter, layering half in the bottom of the pan and mixing the other half with the fruit before pouring it in.
The fruit is topped with a streusel mixture. During the baking process, the cake batter rises up around the fruit, encasing the fruit in batter and causing the streusel to buckle, creating a distinctive crinkly appearance.
I just mixed my fruit right into my batter and topped it with my streusel topping.
If you love home-baked treats as much as I do, you might also like these delicious cake recipes:
- Clementine Cranberry Pound Cake
- Cannoli Pound Cake with White Chocolate Ganache
- Meyer Lemon Pistachio Pound Cake (Starbucks Copycat Recipe)
- Peaches and Cream Cottage Cheese Cake
Blueberry Buckle with a Key Lime Syrup
Ingredients
Topping
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter cubed and chilled
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup flour
- ½ cup oats
Batter
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- ½ cup Greek yogurt full-fat at room temperature
- 2 cups blueberries fresh or frozen
Key Lime Syrup
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ½ cup lemon juice or lime juice
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°
- Butter a 9-inch (23cm) square cake pan.
Topping
- Mix very cold butter, sugar, flour and oats with your hands until all is well mixed with peas size crumbs. Set in Refrigerator until needed
Batter
- Cream butter, sugar and lemon zest together until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. (by hand with a wooden spoon or using an electric mixer)
- Add the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl
- Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium-sized bowl.
- Add half the flour mixture to the creamed, mixing just enough to incorporate
- Add Greek yogurt, mixing in just enough to incorporate
- Add the remaining flour mixture, mixing just enough so it’s barely incorporated (there will still be dry bits of unincorporated flour)
- Using a flexible spatula, fold the peaches into the mixture. Being careful not to overmix.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top.
- Add the topping over the batter and bake for 50-55 minutes at 350 degrees. Or until the buckle is lightly browned on top and feels just set in the center. It should spring back lightly when you touch the center.
- When the buckle is almost finished baking, make the syrup by heating the lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, cooking it until it thickens. It should take about 5 minutes. Don't allow the syrup to brown.
- Remove the buckle from the oven and pour the warm lemon syrup over it, letting it soak in.
- Serve buckle slightly warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or home made whipped cream.
Nutrition
Sara
This buckle looks absolutely divine!! I absolutely love blueberry desserts, and this is so perfect for the season! I cannot wait to make this and enjoy it throughout the week!
Michele Peterson
I love the addition of the key lime syrup to this classic dessert. Topped with whipping cream as you suggest it would be especially delicious!
Jess
I just bought a basket of blueberries and was wondering what to do with them…this is the perfect recipe for them!
Christie Gagnon
Blueberries, lime, and yogurt all in this buckle -sounds heavenly. Can’t wait to give it a try!
Rosemary
Oh wow…divine! Blueberries are some of my favorite fruits, so this is an easy yes to make. Looks like you are using fresh blueberries, do you think frozen would work? Can’t wait to make this soon!
Amy Chung
Blueberries and key lime?? Yum!
Amanda
Everything about this buckle sounds amazing! I love the idea of pairing blueberries and key lime together — talk about the perfect spring dessert!
Sula
Blueberry Buckle is definitely a classic but the addition of key lime sauce is new to me. Love it!
Andrea Janssen
Who doesn’t love blueberry cake! I’m a huge fan. Never had it with a crumble though, but I’m going to try it for sure.
Nicole
Love this! The blueberry and key lime mix is perfect.
Sara LaFountain
OMG we made this for dessert tonight and it was SO GOOD! I might have had seconds when the kids weren’t looking.
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the buckle Sara and thanks for the great review!
Catalina
I am drooling over this blueberry buckle. My new favorite one!
Marysa
I have never made a buckle before, and it sounds delicious. We love going blueberry picking in the summer, and it would be a great way to use up all those berries.
heather
This buckle is delicious! I love the addition of key lime syrup! Gives it such an amazing flavor.
Bruce DeMustchine
Two of my favorite flavors, blueberry and lemon. I noticed you have a blueberry lemon cake as well that I’ll have to make.
Thanks, chef… I’m looking forward to perusing the rest of your websites recipe gems 👍🏼
Beth
This looks so delicious! Although I don’t enjoy cooking dinner that much, I love to bake. I’ll make this once I can get all the ingredients!
Liz
Absolutely drooling at these pictures! I look forward to making this before quarantine is over.
Terri Steffes
My grandmother made blueberry buckle for us my entire life but NEVER with key lime syrup. I can imagine how delicious that would be. I have to try this.
Pam Wattenbarger
That would be a great dessert for when the blueberries on our tree ripen. I can’t wait to make this with our homegrown blueberries.
Michelle | Bliss from Balance
I’ve never heard of a “buckle” until now. It looks delicious though and something to add to the baking list!
Tasheena
This would be perfect to make for my family to have for breakfast or even as a snack.
Rena
I love blueberries but had never heard of blueberry buckle before.
Sarah Bailey
I have had such a sweet tooth craving time at the moment and this sounds like it would absolutely amazing! My mouth is salivating at just the idea!
Amber Myers
I am drooling. This looks incredible. I just love blueberries, so this is the perfect dessert for me.
melissa chapman
I had never heard of buckle before but it makes sense. It does look so good and I love blueberries. I do not usually bake but this looks worth the effort.
Jen
That looks tasty! I’ve had a major sweet tooth lately and have been trying hard not to give in too much
Laura Dembowski
I make blueberry buckle every summer but I never thought to add a glaze. Excited to try that.
Chef Dennis Littley
It was really a nice touch Laura. I originally thought it would seep into the cake, but it pretty much all stayed on the topping.
D Duffy
I have never heard of Buckle – it looks amazing! Mayne similar to Frangipane? I will have to try it!
Chef Dennis Littley
Let me know if you get to try it, It’s quite a bit different from frangipane.