This moist blackberry buckle is a classic dessert that is bursting with fresh blackberries. It’s a vanilla cake full of blackberries and topped with a streusel crumb. Perfect to both serve with coffee or as an after-dinner dessert.

What is Blackberry Buckle?

Crisp, crumble, cobbler, buckle…the world of baked fruit desserts is both vast and full of things that being with B or C. So what is a buckle? A buckle is essentially fruit baked into a cake and then topped with streusel. As the cake bakes, the fruit causes the cake to “buckle” down, giving it its signature name. It’s an old fashioned blackberry cake that is moist, bursting with blackberries, and great for any time of day.

This blackberry buckle folds blackberries into a moist vanilla cake batter that is then topped with cinnamon streusel crumb, baked to perfection, and drizzled with sweet vanilla icing. And to tell you a little more about it:

• It’s easy to make and perfect to serve as dessert or with coffee. This is truly such a versatile dessert!
• It is super tender and moist, with a light crunch from the streusel topping.
• You can customize it with any fruit of your choosing–blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, or a combination these.

Ingredients for Blackberry Buckle

There are three components to this blackberry buckle with streusel topping: the cake, the crumb, and the icing. The icing is optional if you want to cut back on either sugar or the number of dishes you need to wash.

Cake

• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder and kosher salt
• Unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• Granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, also at room temperature: my favorite way to warm up my eggs is to soak them in a bowl of very warm water for 10 minutes.
• Whole milk: use whole milk for the richest flavor and texture, but you can also sub out a different milk. I’ve made this with almond milk before to great success.
• Greek yogurt or sour cream: this adds moisture as well as helps break any gluten strands that may have formed to keep your cake light and tender.
• Vanilla extract
• Blackberries: either fresh or frozen. If frozen do not thaw, but adjust your baking time to account for the fact that you’ll have a colder batter to start.
• Some additional flour for the blackberries.

Crumb

• Melted, unsalted butter
• All-purpose flour
• Brown sugar
• Ground cinnamon

Icing

• Powdered sugar
• Milk
• Splash of vanilla

You will also need an electric mixer and a 9×9 baking pan.

How to Make Buckle

Here is how to make this incredible blackberry dessert!

To start, preheat your oven while you prep the cake batter. Grease a 9×9 inch square pan with non-stick spray. I also like to line mine with a wide strip of parchment paper to help lift the cake out once it has cooled.

Begin by creaming the butter and sugar together in a mixer on high speed. Make sure to not skimp on this time and scrape down the sides of your bowl halfway through. Then, add the eggs and vanilla and continue beating the batter for another minute or so. Make sure that your eggs are at room temperature, otherwise your fats will split.

Once you’ve creamed the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together, you can move on to the remaining ingredients. Similar to the eggs, cold ingredients are not our friend here when initially pulling the batter together. Take your milk and yogurt, whisk them together, and give them a quick zap in the microwave to bring them to room temp.

In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Alternate folding in half the flour, all the milk, and then the remaining flour into your mixer. Run it on low speed to avoid over-mixing the batter. Please make sure to stop mixing once the flour is combined.

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Toss the blackberries with some flour, and then use a spatula to fold them into the batter. The flour will prevent them from sinking do the bottom of your pan while the cake bakes. Transfer the batter to your prepared pan.

Make the streusel crumb by mixing all the ingredients together. Then crumble it over the batter.

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Lastly, time to bake your blackberry buckle! After baking, let it cool down slightly, and then drizzle with your homemade icing if desired.

Recipe Q&A

How do I store leftover buckle? While this dessert is best served fresh, you can keep it tightly wrapped or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Can I use a different type of fruit? Absolutely! Starting with the same base batter, feel free to fold in other fruits and berries as well. Blueberries, raspberries, or peaches are some of my favorites to name a few.

Can I make this dairy free? You can substitute dairy-free alternatives for any of the ingredients. Vegan butter, non-dairy milk, and non-dairy yogurt are all viable options for this recipe. As mentioned earlier, I’ve made this buckle with almond milk before and it turned out just fine!

What should I do if I want to make a 9×13 inch cake? To make this cake larger, multiply the ingredients by 1.5. For example, this would mean 3 cups of flour instead of 2, and 1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar instead of ¾ cup. If you need any help with this, don’t hesitate to send me an email or ask in the comments!

Did You Make This Recipe?

If so, I’d love to hear from you! Please leave a rating and/or comment to spread the love and help others find this recipe.

Also feel free take a picture and share it with me on  Instagram @toppedwithhoney. Looking forward to seeing your delicious blackberry buckle!

If you’re not ready to bake yet, no problem! Simply hover over any image in this post (pick your favorite), or tap if you’re on mobile, and click the pin icon in the corner to save for later.

Lastly, if you’re just all about blackberry or desserts that go well with coffee, I gotchu:

Roasted Blackberry Earl Grey Cupcakes

Maple Bourbon Banana Coffee Cake

Fresh Blackberry Buckle with Crumb Topping