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)!
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup butter softened
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
Topping
- ¼ cup butter + 1 tablespoon, cold
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon 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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Can i substitute Almond Milk or Light Cream if I don’t have whole milk?
I haven’t tried it but I do think it would work just fine. Let us know how it goes!
Made it for the office breakfast this morning.
It’s a hit!
Lovely cake! My only issue is that the recipe is written in volume measurements and not weight, so the results can be unreliable. The recipe is also a bit poorly written and could use some editing for clarity, as I could see this being confusing to those who do not regularly bake.
I used room temperature butter (72°) and still had to add double the flour to get a crumbly texture. It had been raining, so I would presume to need more flour in most cases, but not double the amount.
The other issue I found is that the cake doesn’t really have its own flavor beyond the bits of lemon zest. It just fell a bit flat at first bite. Ended up adding some vanilla paste the 2nd time around and was much happier for it. Took another reviewers suggestion and tried it warm with ice cream it was heavenly!
Bake time was spot on, and overall this recipe was easy to make and waaaaayy too easy to eat…straight out of the pan with forks while the kids were asleep, as my husband and I discovered at 1am
Glad you enjoyed it Ashley!
Thank you for sharing the recipe! I had so much fresh blueberries that i really needed a way to use them up and felt like this is it.
My topping mixture turned really battery because the recipe called for softened butter when in fact chilled butter is preferred for a crumbly texture (after some light google search). Maybe i am missing something here? I still topped my cake mixture with the ‘melty’ topping mixture and i hope it still turns out edible.
For our topping, we found it best to use softened butter (not melted) to achieve the streusel topping Jane. Hope you enjoyed them!
This is a great recipe! At first I was a little bit confused by the instructions because it was a very detailed but it turned out well. For my crumble I did not have enough butter so I use milk instead and added extra flour. Also for the lemon zest, I squeezed in all the lemon juice so it was now a blueberry lemon buckle.
I made this recipe and it was fabulous loved by entire family. It brought comfort to all during this perilous time. Thank you and be well.
How do I store it after it’s baked? Refrigerate or just in a container on the counter?
I store it on the counter for about 24 hours. If it’ll be longer than that, you might want to refrigerate it.
Loved it. Made it exactly as written Turned out perfect and will make again and again.
Way to much sugar. Drowns out all the blueberry flavor.
Sorry to hear this recipe didn’t work out for you Paul, it is usually a hit with readers as written.
Tried this for the first time it was amazing, loved it…!
Blueberry Buckle was amazing!!!
I didn’t have any lemon zest, it was amazing without it. I used fresh blueberries.
I will be making this again!
Had to use up some blueberries. Found this recipe! So easy to make. Really delicious. Will definitely make again.
Thanks so much for sharing.
My husband is my food critic and he said the lemon zest was overpowering in this recipe. If left out, he said it would be good.
Very good, easy, moist. I was a little worried because I used frozen blueberries, but it came out great! Can’t wait to try with fresh blueberries! We had it warm with ice cream!
Did you thaw the blueberries first?
Hi Heather, if using frozen berries, there is no need to defrost first but your buckle make need a few extra minutes to finish baking.
This was delicious. will definitely make it again. have a piece to my friend and now she wants the recipe, she loved it.
I bookmarked this page after I made this for the first time. I made it again today and it was just as easy and delicious! Love the lemon zest with the blueberries.
Perfect recipe. My new favourite.
So happy to hear that Rowan!
BEST. BLUEBERRY. CAKE. EVER. I can’t even describe the goodness. Love it!! Thanks for sharing recipe
So happy to hear you love it Fancy!
My family LOVED it!
This was the first recipe I’ve made that my family really enjoyed we made it in the evening and it was all gone by morning! Super delicious and it’ll rock your world served warm with vanilla icecream.
So delicious with ice cream Joselyn! So happy your family loved it!
Have made this recipe twice now. Found that I needed to cook for an hour other than that turned out perfectly as written. Itsva perfect combination of moist cake, blueberries and crumple type topping. My whole family loves it!
Thanks for letting us know Dawn! Glad you enjoyed this recipe :)
Delicious!
Thanks Lori!