Summertime means fresh peaches and that means freshly baked Peach Buckle to me! And that brings back one of my favorite childhood memories.
My mother wasn’t a great cook but she loves peaches and this simple cake was one of her favorites.
What is a Buckle?
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
It’s an old fashioned dessert developed by the early settlers that we now refer to as a coffee cake. But no matter what you call it, I promise you’ll be calling it delicious!
Ingredients to make a Peach Buckle
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make a Peach Buckle. In Chef Speak this is called the Mise en Place which translates into Everything in its Place.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Can I make a buckle with other fruit?
Yes you can. Some of my other favorite fruits for this delicious cake are:
- blueberries
- nectarines
- apples
- pineapple
- blackberries
A mixed berry buckle is always a delicious treat. Try mixing some of the other fruits together to get
How to make Peach Buckle
Let’s start by making the streusel topping for the buckle.
Mix very cold butter pieces with the sugar, flour and oats. Mix together with your hands until all of the ingredients are well blended. You should end up with peas size crumbs. Set in Refrigerator until needed
You don’t have to use oats in your streusel topping but I like the texture it adds. I actually used a Bob’s Red Mill Five Grain Cereal instead of just oats.
Next we move on to the buckle 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
I used Happy Eggs’ new Heritage Breed blue and brown eggs. The yolks are a deep yellow, almost orange in color. That is why the mixture (and the cake has such a rich yellow color.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
Here you see the flour mixture with the Greek yogurt and egg mixture.
- Add half the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture, mixing just enough to incorporate.
- Add Greek yogurt, mixing in just enough until its mostly mixed in.
- Add the remaining flour mixture, stirring in the flour just enough so it’s barely incorporated (there may be dry bits of unincorporated flour)
- Using a flexible spatula (or large spoon), fold the peaches into the mixture. Being careful not to mix any more than needed to get the peaches into the batter.
This is how the batter looks after the peaches have been folded in.
Add the batter to a 9″ baking pan, glass or metal. I like baking certain cakes in glass it gives the finished cake a darker richer appearance.
Because of the way glass transfers heat in the oven, it will bake faster and darker than most metal pans.
Top the peach buckle batter with the streusel mix. Place in a preheated 350 degree F oven and bake for 50-55 minutes.
If you’re using non-professional metal baking pans the cake will take 5-7 minutes longer to bake.
While the buckle is baking, prepare the lemon syrup. Don’t skip this step. The lemon syrup is a delicious addition to this peach buckle!
The Peach Buckle couldn’t have come out any. better. The streusel topping was nice and brown and the cake was moist.
Allow the buckle to cool for a few minutes then drizzle the lemon syrup over top of the streusel.
Serve warm out of the oven with vanilla ice cream or enjoy the buckle plain for breakfast. You’re going to love it!
If you enjoyed this recipe, you may also like these:
- Blueberry Buckle with a Key Lime Syrup
- Clementine Cranberry Pound Cake
- Meyer Lemon Pistachio Pound Cake (Starbucks Copycat Recipe)
- Peaches and Cream Cottage Cheese Cake
Peach Buckle with Sweet-Tart Lemon 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
- 3 cups peaches chopped -fresh or frozen
Lemon 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 butter mixture, 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.*I used glass, a non-commercial metal baking pan may take 5-7 minutes longer
Lemon Syrup
- 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.
Kate says
OMG this was SO GOOD!!! I added walnuts to the streusel. Much of the streusel sank into the batter as it baked, but the oats and walnuts added good texture and crunch. The tartness of the citrus syrup made the flavor really sparkle.
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the buckle. There may have been a little extra moisture in the peaches causing it to be looser which could be why the streusel sank.
Mary says
This buckle is delicious! I used frozen peaches that I chopped up and slightly drained. They were very moist and I worried about the buckle not baking correctly. The finished cake did not suffer from the extra liquid and was moist, dense and so so good especially with the streusel topping. Thank you for a keeper recipe. (Baked at 5000 ft elevation)
Jocelyn Mallory says
I haven’t made this yet, but would like to know if I can substitute drained, canned peaches for either this recipe or the peach cobbler pound cake. Thanks.
Chef Dennis Littley says
Yes you can use drained canned peaches to make both recipes.
Debra says
Perfect Fall Sunday Morning addition to the coffee on the patio routine. I pinned this one to have it handy whenever the urge strikes.
Tayo says
I love this peach cobbler and especially love the addition of lemon. I cant wait to try it!