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.
A couple of notes about the blueberries in this recipe:
- Fresh blueberries are best. Tossing them with a spoonful of flour keeps them evenly distributed throughout the cake.
- If using frozen berries, there is no need to defrost first but your buckle make need a few extra minutes to finish baking.
- Frozen blueberries may change the color of your batter but will still taste amazing.
- Any fruit can be used in place of blueberries such as rhubarb, strawberries or even apples. (I add an extra dash of cinnamon to my topping if using apples).
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.
I love this recipe and my family cannot get enough of it! It the perfect way to enjoy fresh summer berries and our favorite alternative to a traditional cake.
Make it a la mode for a decadent dessert or serve with a dollop of freshly whipped cream it with your afternoon coffee or tea. This Blueberry Buckle recipe perfect for any occasion so don’t be surprised if everyone asks for seconds (and the recipe)!
Blueberry Buckle
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup butter softened
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
Topping
- ¼ cup butter + 1 tablespoon, cold
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8 pan.
- In a large bowl, cream sugar, butter, egg & lemon zest until fluffy.
- In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to sugar mixture, alternating with milk mixing just until combined.
- Toss blueberries with 1 tablespoon flour. Fold into batter and spread in prepared pan.
- Combine all topping ingredients in a small bowl until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter and bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
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SO good. Very moist!! I typically will eat what I bake while it is warm but I baked this the night before we ate it and in the morning the taste and textures were amazing !
I made this today and it turned out so fantastic! I added walnuts to the streusel topping and it made the topping extra delicious. I used frozen blueberries and as soon as I added them to the batter, it seized up and got really thick. While it did take longer o bake, it made no difference in the texture or flavor of the cake. I’ll definitely make this again!
Walnuts sounds like a delicious addition, thanks for sharing Debbi!
This is a really great recipe. I do wonder if the crumb topping needs a bit more structure with more flour or oatmeal so that it keeps it shape. I actually did the crumble, refroze it and it still melted and spread out. Still tastes great but if you are looking for the crumble top I’ve never been able to get it to stay in a crumble.
This is a great recipe and now is a family staple of ours. My family in Colorado, West Virginia, Virginia and Texas love this recipe. The crumble is perfect. Cook it one time and you’ll be hooked. It is easy enough for anyone to cook. Live dangerously, use real butter and whole milk.
Super disappointing recipe. Started off really excited as the recipes was straight forward however it came out of the oven gummy and like wall paper paste! The lemon is way too subtle so it’s like you recently washed the cake tin with lemon scented washing up liquid. The streusel type topping is nice but the fruit did not “buckle” do it just sits on tops like breadcrumbs and burns. Not cake like all. Even my husband wouldn’t eat it after a few mouth fulls! Such a waste of ingredients and in this day and age with a cost of living crisis hopefully this review helps someone else to not waste their ingredients! Quite frankly I’m annoyed I wasted my money hence this review!
Thanks for trying this recipe, Charlotte. I’m so sorry it didn’t work out for you.
Wow-it was the simplest recipe ever and practically foolproof! I wonder if you didn’t flour the blueberries—or perhaps your oven May need to be calibrated.
Delicious, easy to make and the family loved it! Will definitely make again!
My crumble topping melted. It is nice and crunchy but I was looking for a crumble top. What did I do wrong? Also when I pulled it out of the oven at 40 min I had melted butter floating on the top.
Hi Teresa, making the topping with cold butter helps prevent that from happening. I hope that helps!
WOW!!! This little treat is incredible! So easy to put together – my husband and I are fighting over who gets the bigger piece! I’m pretty sure this is my new all-time favorite & best cake (and I make a lot of cakes!). And the kitchen smells great! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Excellent. added nutmeg, because we like it, and yogurt with the milk to make the 1/2 cup
Will be making this over again and again
Spectacular recipe, thank you so much.
Great recipe! Love that there’s lemon zest. Easy to make and fast to consume!
I’m not a baker but this was so easy and fool proof. Tasted amazing I knew I should have made 2 batches since the one I made is almost all gone within a few hrs of making it!
Can you use oat milk as a substitute for whole milk in this recipe?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Chris, but it should work. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
I made mine with oat milk and it turned out great!
easiest and but Buckle Buckle recipe I ever made. Now my family and friends ask for it every blueberry season.
I LOVE this recipe! My family has a little bit of a sweet tooth and said it would be better if it was a touch sweeter. If I increased the sugar from 3/4 to a full cup, would it still come out ok? I am not the best baker, so I always follow the recipes because my deviations are disastrous – lol! Please let me know your thoughts / suggestions of how I could make it a touch sweeter.
Thanks so much!!
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure, but that should be just fine Leslie! I am so glad you love this recipe!
I can’t eat cinnamon, is there something I can use as a substitute for the cinnamon? thanks
You can leave it out or add additional lemon zest. Enjoy Stephanie!
How about cardamom in place of cinnamon
Cardamom would be delicious! If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
This recipe was very easy to make and turned out perfectly. I did add a little extra milk so that the batter consistency wasn’t too thick. I will definitely be making this again.
Perfect recipe! It was a real hit with the family. I loved that it was not too sweet, the lemon zest was a perfect pairing with the blueberries
can this recipe be doubled for a 13×9 baking pan? I absolutely love blueberries. is this a dry or moist cake?
While I haven’t tried it, a few readers have said they have successfully doubled this in a 9×13 pan and baked for around 50 minutes. And this cake is very moist. Let us know how it goes!
Made this recipe with 1/2 cup sugar and added 1/4 cup of applesauce. Also I used frozen blueberries and it came out moist and delicious without being too sweet. This keeps well and stays moist even days after.
I used a half cup each of raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries instead of just blueberries and it came out amazing.The lemon zest adds the perfect lemony hint to the batter. I will definitely be making this again.