Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson's Lemon Blueberry Buckle

Are you sitting down, dear ones? Do you have something to steady yourselves with?

Alright. Now take this in:

Tender buttermilk cake.
Fresh blueberries.
Streusel (pssst: in German, its language of origin, it's pronounced "stroysel", not "stroosel").
And then (oh, then!): Fresh lemon syrup.

Boom!

Yes, I have in fact just listed the four compelling reasons why this lemon blueberry buckle is the very next thing you must bake, even if you live in a city currently suffering through a heat wave. (Strip down to your skivvies, if you must. This is important.)

I know, I know: that list can, to some ears, sound a little...ordinary? Pedestrian? Yeah, yeah, blueberries, streusel, lemons, yadda yadda yadda? But listen, seriously, this thing is so good, so darn delicious, that I cannot let you just walk past. Stop! Stop and look at my buckle!

A buckle, at least according to what resulted in this recipe, is a tender, buttermilk-enriched cake flavored with lemon zest and studded with fresh blueberries, then topped with more fresh blueberries and a lemon-zest besprinkled streusel that is strewn across the cake half-frozen. And then, in a stroke of genius, after the cake is pulled from the oven, it gets a final shot of extra lemon flavor from a hot lemon syrup spooned across the top.

The best part is that you have to wait until the cake cools completely to eat it, which may seem like torture, but ends up being fantastic. Because: the cake mellows out; the blueberries cool into squidgy little blue pockets of flavor; the streusel settles into itself, crunchy in pockets and tender in others; and the syrup makes everything fairly glow with sweet, tart, citrusy goodness.

Have I convinced you yet? That you must try this? Okay, listen to this: I made the buckle to bring to the office to welcome a colleague back from her maternity leave, and would you believe I actually considered hiding the leftovers from her when she left at the end of the day, in the hopes that I'd get to take them home? Swear to God. A breast-feeding mother. That's how good this is.

(Uh, I made her take home the leftovers. I said I considered it, not that I actually did it. Sheesh.)

(I did have two pieces, though.)

(Should have kept a third.)

(Are you making this yet?)

Lemon Blueberry Buckle
Serves 8

Crumb topping
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) butter, cubed, at room temperature

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Add the butter, using a fork or your fingers to cut in the butter until it is reduced to the size of peas. Loosely cover the bowl, and place it in the freezer while you mix the cake batter.

Cake and assembly
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pan
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar, divided
Zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, divided
Crumb topping, chilled
Juice of 2 lemons (about 6 tablespoons)

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch square baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter, three-fourths cup sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

4. Stir the flour mixture into the bowl, a third at a time, alternating with the buttermilk, until both the flour mixture and buttermilk are evenly incorporated into the batter. Gently fold 1 cup of the blueberries into the batter.

5. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and distribute the remaining blueberries evenly over the top of the batter. Remove the crumb topping from the freezer and sprinkle it over the berries.

6. Bake the cake until it is lightly golden and firm on top, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through for even baking.

7. While the cake is baking, make a lemon syrup: In a small saucepan, combine the remaining one-third cup sugar with the lemon juice and whisk until blended. Heat the pan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid thickens to a syrupy consistency, 6 to 8 minutes. (The glaze will bubble while cooking and may need to be removed from the heat to check that it is the proper consistency.) Remove from heat and set aside in a warm place.

8. Remove the cake from the oven and drizzle the warm glaze over. Cool to room temperature. The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days, covered in plastic wrap.

Comments

[Emily]

Hehe. Now have this mental image of insane sweaty bakers in skivvies across screeching Look At My Buckle! Sounds delicious, I'll have to try it...maybe in my skivvies because my kitchen is too hot to handle these days.

[Erin]

good lord. it's good to have you back. 2 homeruns in a row!

[maggie (p&c)]

Yum! Thanks for the stroosel/stroysel tip, too.

[thecatskillkiwi]

now i know what i can do with my 17lbs of blueberries that i picked the other day!!!
hee hee hee

[BF]

ha ha ha. i need to get on this, pronto.

[TheKitchenWitch]

Now, there's that cheeky voice we know and love! How tremendous to have it back in action again.

I adore the way you used "squidgy." What a great and under-used term.

Never understood how buckle was different from grunt was different from pandowdy...but that's a moot point, because anything worth stealing from underneath a new mommy's nose is GOOD!

[Zoomie]

Oh, yeah, I'm in!

[Shauna from Piece of Cake]

Buckles, bettys, slumps, grunts...love all the funky-sounding fruit desserts. This looks great. And anything with a lemon syrup sounds perfect-perfect to me!

[Sam]

Mmm...that lemon syrup is genius! Yum.

[Jen]

Wow, I actually have buttermilk, blueberries and a lemon! Usually I'm bumming out because I don't have the necessary ingredients for a yummy sounding recipe. This will be my reward for making it through this week of grad school. Immunology, Pharmacology & Women's Health exams oh my!

[Kelly]

I may actually just have to invite the in-laws over so that I have an excuse to make this cake. Glad to see you back--your blog is inspiring to me on many levels.

[Adrienne]

I shall now commence dancing around the kitchen saying STROYSEL over and over again.

And as soon as I'm done, I'm making this buckle. (And I don't even like blueberries!)

[jenny]

OMG OMG OMG. I saved this recipe back in--when was it?--May when it first came out. Have been waiting--and WAITING--for the wild blueberries around here to pop up at the farmer's market, and they just did. And now, now that you've written about it, well, now I have to make this, like, tomorrow. OMG. SO delicious.

p.s. You should have squirreled away that third piece. Really.

[Sharon]

Since you liked this recipe so much, I highly recommend their book-- Rustic Fruit Desserts. I've only made three recipes from it (including this one), but they've all been perfect. Also, it's fun to just sit and look at the book and drool... Trust me, you need it!

[Caroline]

I love a good buckle... a blueberry crumbling one in the mouth... a chunky, Mexican silver one on the waist.

[The Leftoverist]

I have recently hidden leftovers from someone myself. That's all I'll say about that.

I love lemon syrup on just about anything. My blogging friend Beth calls blueberries the "workhorses" of the berry world, which I love. So relatively indestructible.

[Bonnie]

Luisa I've made this buckle four times since in appeared in the LA Times to RAVE reviews! So glad you liked it too (and so nice to read the smile in your words!)

[Goddo]

This is my favourite kind of thing. I'm still making your apple "Sow's Ear" regularly (it's posted on my fridge for those weekend mornings when I'm not "all there"- altho I must admit I do tweak it with more apples and just a tiny pinch of baking powder)

Lately tho, I had to alter my diet due to migraines...so altho this sounds lovely, I'm wondering whether it could be nicely tweaked to include more magnesium rich ingredients (something 50% of migraine sufferers are deficient in), more B vitamins, and fewer refined carbs.

So I'm thinking switch up the white flour for whole wheat and add almonds or walnuts or brazil nuts (which are especially rich in magnesium). And maybe add some fortified cereal on the top for crunch (B vitamins!).

Hmmm...or maybe I could just simplify things and pop a B50 vitamin, drink a glass of milk for the calcium (to balance the magnesium) AND eat a handful of nuts on the side!

Seriously, dear fellow migraine sufferers...310 mg of magnesium, balanced with at least half that (or up to double) of calcium, and vitamins B 1,2,3,6 etc and vitamin D (don't forget Vitamin D! We're all doing calcium but forget about D!!!).

It could make a big difference in you life, and sublime things as slumps, grunts, sow's ears all the more divine in their essential "SQUIDGINESS."

Ciao Luisa, you're a doll.

[TheWoman]

Wednesday Chef: 1
Me: 0

You've won. I have to, nay NEED to try this recipe. And I'm not even a big berry fan...

[Erin]

Ok, I think you did convince me! And I was justifying to myself, saying it could be breakfast, too, with fruit and buttermilk. That's healthy, right? I think the lemon syrup poured on at the end is what broke my resolve to not eat too much dessert. Yummy!

[Chelsea]

How could I resist such a glorious endorsement?!

[Ellen]

I've been making that fabulous banana bread you posted a few weeks back practically non-stop. I think I may be on to blueberries now after the rave review. So glad to have you back. Love the blog. Thanks.

[redmenace]

I don't think I need any more reasons. This looks just great! Can I make it with blackberries. That's the question. Here is Seattle, they're coming out of my ears!

[Luisa]

Redmenace - I don't see why not! Lemon and blackberries go together like peas and carrots.

[Eva]

I'm actually so excited to make this! and I don't really like baking...but I'am German, so anything with streusel in it, I'm in :)Thanks for your amazing blog

[Nicole]

I just bought this cookbook last week and this recipe is first on my list. I went out last Sunday to pick the blueberries to make it and alas, stepped on a wasps nest after only one cupped picked.
Your post has inspired me to go back out there and pick again, just in a different location!!

[carole]

Congrats on getting your appetite back. I know how you felt. Isn't it great to get excited about food again?!

[tara]

The other day we had a conversation about a buckle vs. a crisp vs. a brown betty vs. a crumble vs. a pan dowdy. I assure you, it was much more riveting and amusing than that sounds. Surely if we'd had your buckle as exhibit A, the buckle would have been declared the clear winner. Looks wonderful.

[Julia]

You seriously sent a shiver down my spine with how delicious and zesty this sounds. Making it ASAP.
And I just know that at some point, as this beauty is baking, I will cry LOOK AT MY BUCKLE!
We could make t-shirts.

[Luisa]

Nicole - ouch! Hope you have better luck next time.

Julia - t-shirts! Brilliant. :)

[Elle]

Ahhh Im so glad you're back, even if its mind-numbingly hot and the thought of turning on my oven makes me want to cry, this will warrant sunday morning baking.

[Dawn in CA]

This looks so flipping good that I am considering making it this tomorrow... even though my husband has left town with a friend, leaving me alone for the weekend with our three little kids. Which means this buckle will take at least three times longer than it otherwise would, but it just might be worth it!

[Julie Varee]

Hey, thanks so much for turning me on to A Homemade Life. It is a wonderful, wonderful book. While I've yet to try any of the recipes, I found the writing/storytelling amazing.

[alicia]

Is this the same thing as a clafouti?

[Luisa]

Alicia - no, not at all. A clafoutis has a pancake-like batter, whereas this has a proper cake batter with streusel on top.

[Mrs. B]

That sounds wonderful. I love blueberries. I must try this!

[Somia]

Just made it and it is cooling for a BBQ party tonight. I can't wait to dive into it! It looks gorgeous but your description was beyond gorgeous - I was drooling by the end! Many thanks.

[Angela]

My grandma made huckleberry buckle when I was a kid. It was one of my favorite treats. This blueberry buckle looks AMAZING. I love the addition of lemon!

[Tim]

Run, do not walk, to buy the blueberries etc. needed to make this cake. Beats blueberry pie (and for that matter any blueberry dessert I've tried) by a bazillion miles

[Anita]

I made this today....just as wonderful as you described it. Looks even prettier in person!

[Jane]

I made this on the weekend and was a little underwhelmed. I mean, it was perfectly nice, but didn't blow me away. I wondered if this could be a cultural thing (e.g. the North-American love of sweetened, salty peanut butter and chocolate completely escapes me for example) or maybe a recipe-conversion thing (I'm from New Zealand). Or it could more likely be because I didn't have the right-sized pan so used a too-big one, meaning the cake was only about 3cm thick, although I reduced the cooking time so it wasn't overcooked, but I think I needed to increase the amount of syrup. I also think I'd omit the salt from the streusel topping even though I used half the amount specified - it still tasted a bit salty to me. I think I used 115g butter in topping and 85g in cake. What's with measuring butter in tablespoons anyway - isn't it a lot easier to just cut a bit off and weigh it? And I should also check that in the US, a tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = 15ml?

[kim]

Let me back up Jane by saying I'd like some metric measures too - I often want to bake your recipes but as soon as I see the list of cups this and sticks that I get disheartened. There are conversion tools out there but I'm afraid I'll get it wrong (especially for stuff with another density like almond powder) and end up with a less-than-great result.
Europe will be eternally greatful to you Louisa!

[kim]

... And we'll spell your name correctly on the celebration banners, I promise :)

[Luisa]

Jane - I'm sorry you were underwhelmed. Sometimes I think that desserts like this are not everyone's cup of tea: too simple perhaps, too breakfasty? Anyway, you are correct that a tablespoon of butter equals three teaspoons, but you should then convert that to grams not to milliliters (since it's not a liquid). 1 tablespoon of butter weighs roughly 13 grams. Americans traditionally don't bake by weight - and if it explains things better, butter here comes packaged in wax paper marked with tablespoon amounts, so it's quite easy for us to simply cut off the number of tablespoons we need.

Kim - I almost exclusively use recipes from American sources on this site, so the ingredients amounts listed are almost never metric. I would love to do the conversions for my non-American readers, but to do it right, I'd have to test every recipe I made, making it at least twice, and I just don't have the time (I do have a day job :). If it helps at all, I use those online conversion tools (like when I made the Marillenknödel) and have never been led astray. If you have a specific question about a metric conversion in a particular recipe, I'm happy to try and help, and if I ever write a cookbook I promise both sets of measurements! :)

[Andrew]

I also made this the other day, and I was blown away. Certainly not as sweet as many other coffee cakes (which is what this basically is) and with a good strong lemon flavor. It helps that I'd had blueberries fresh from the farmer's market that morning. Tip: partially-freeze your blueberries if they're fresh, it helps avoid them blowing up in the batter.

I couldn't tell if Jane from New Zealand found it too sweet or if it really was the preparation. I'd put this at more of a German level of sweetness than a N.American level. Also, Jane: 3cm thick is NO WAY the right depth--mine's at least 6cm deep thanks to the rising power of the baking powder/soda and that buttermilk.

[agatha]

i made this on friday night and ate 1/4 of the cake on my own! my boyfriend came home and ate the other 1/4. it was so perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee or an afternoon snack with tea. this is officially my new favorite recipe for a fruit buckle. i am planning on making it with raspberries and blackberries as well. i did not have buttermilk at home and only had about 1.5 cups blueberries so i cut the whole recipe by a third and used kefir (a russian yogurt-like staple if you're not familiar with it) and it worked like a charm. i always have lowfat plain kefir in my refrigerator. it's my secret ingredient to many recipes that require yogurt or buttermilk. thank you so much for this recipe - i am in love!

[emvandee]

Ack! My last comment was eaten. Oops. What I meant to say was that I ate all of my blueberries mere moments before clicking onto this recipe and now I am distraught. Except that I just bought a bag of plums, the most beautiful red plums in all the world, and I think I will try a plummy version of this recipe. Lovely buckle. Lovelovelove.

[alexandria]

This was absolutely scrumptious. Sweet and thank you!

[treehouse Chef]

This looks so delicious and different from the other recipes I have read. Thanks for sharing.

[sofasophia]

I made it as Backyard Blackberry Buckle -- molto yummy. I doubled the fruit, so I let the lad have it for breakfast :)