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
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
More Recipes You’ll Love
I so wish I had read the reviews before baking this. I think there is some confusion caused by the way the directions for the streusel topping are written. I was not sure if I should interpret the “softened” to mean all of the butter or the 1 T alone to be softened. Never having run across a recipe with just an extra tablespoon softened, against my gut instinct and trying to follow the recipe to the letter, I made sure all of the butter was softened. Big mistake! The buckle came out with one big solid mess on the top. I am sure when we bite into it, it will taste fine, but as I am taking it to a get together, I am very disappointed in its presentation. It would be nice if the directions were more clear as this seems to have been an issues for others too.
Made this several times, each time the crumb too never holds. I do not know what I am doing wrong. Follow directions to a t each time. Other then that it comes out good. Think the next time i’ll leave the crumb part out and just use a cream frosting.
Made this today. Doubled the recipe and put it in a 9X13 pan. Only used a single recipe of the crumble for the top as it looked like a lot. Just right. Baked for about 5 minutes extra 50 minutes. So good! My husband said this recipe is a keeper.
Love this recipe! I put in 2 cups of blueberries as I has so many and doubled the cinnamon since we love cinnamon. Making this again today. It will be a family favourite. Would like to know if anyone has doubled the recipe for a 9×13 pan and how it turned out.
Very good. We had a ton of blueberries from blueberry picking and this was a great way to use them up!
AMAZING! During these times, I needed something easy and stress relieving to make with all these fresh blueberries I had at home. I doubled the recipe and used two bread baking sheets and a 8×8 sheet as recommended. My only mistake was using softened butter for the topping because it turned out flat. But next time I’ll use cold butter so it’ll turn out more crumbly! Overall still a wonderful and delicious recipe I’ll definitely make this again! Thanks so much for sharing!! Stay safe and healthy:)
Everyone loved this recipe- I did not have any lemons so I used liquid lemon zest. The lemon gave it a great flavor. Several people wanted the recipe. This was also very easy. Would recommend
Are you to sift the flour?
Hi Cheryl, no need to sift the flour. Just combine with other dry ingredients :)
What can I substitute for the lemon zest? Can I leave it out? Help! I have so many things of blueberry and I want to try this
You can leave it out, it just adds a bit of extra flavor. Enjoy!
My strudel melted :( it just made a layer of buttery flour on top of the lemon/berry base. However I did just take it out of the oven. Will it solidify after it cools? It’s not much of a crumble right now
It’s summer time! I am blessed to have so many fresh blueberries on hand and was looking for a dessert to make. This recipe did not disappoint. The cake was very moist and complimented the blueberry perfectly. The topping is nut free so my entire family could indulge in every delicious bite. This recipe is a family favorite.
I forgot to rate the recipe! In my opinion it is a five! Definitely a keeper.
LOVED this cake! I had fresh blueberries from my yard, found this recipe and WOW. My whole family liked it, even the one who says they don’t really like blueberries. The recipe is perfect AS IS, I just drizzled a little glaze on top.
Does the butter for the batter need to be softened?
I soften the butter before mixing.
Can I use frozen blueberries?
Frozen blueberries will work in this recipe, the color can bleed a little bit but it will work just fine!
I have no idea what happened, but mine didn’t look anything like the photo. Even though I baked it for only 40 minutes, it came out almost looking burnt. Sadly, I ended up throwing it away. I am going to try again tomorrow and make sure I keep a close eye on it.
Sorry, it didn’t work out for you, I can’t say for sure what went wrong. Let us know how it goes the second time!
I made this and received SO many compliments. I immediately pointed them to your recipe. I did however use the juice as the lemon as well in mine to make it a bit more lemony. Turned out PERFECT.
Can I double this for 9×13 pan?
I haven’t tried it but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. Let us know how it goes if you try it!
Absolutely delicious! I only made one change and that was to add 1 teaspoon of quality vanilla extract to the batter. Thanks for such a fantastic recipe! It was a hit that has already been requested for again. :)
This recipe is absolutely full of flavor.
I have my mom’s recipe for blueberry buckle but the addition of lemon zest to the batter, and brown & granulated sugar to the topping is the perfect changes.
I had two cups of frozen blueberries and I used them all.
We served to friends and they have not stopped talking about it. I let them have the small piece which was left-sorry I did that because it would have been great with my a.m. coffee.
It makes me so happy to hear how much you loved this recipe Lizzie! You will have to make another batch just for your morning coffees ;)
Excellent! The lemon is a great addition to the old blueberry buckle of years ago. Top nice and crispy. Perfect!
I ate a piece warm from the oven and am in love! The subtle lemon flavor from the zest and the warm blueberries were phenomenal together. The streusel topping adds a zing to the finish. I didn’t have a 8×8 pan so used a springform Bundt pan that measured 4” from outside to middle; it was a great substitute and the cooking time was the same. Perfect recipe, and thanks for posting!
So happy you loved it! Thanks for sharing :)