Baked Sunday Mornings: Nonnie's Blueberry Buckle

As much as I enjoy making fancy layer cakes, I also love a good homey coffee cake. This week's Baked Sunday Mornings recipe is Nonnie's Blueberry Buckle, which is described in Baked Occasions as "the kind of recipe you might see in a church cookbook," and a cake that seems to be "crafted especially for lazy mornings and dark coffee."

The recipe instructions suggested that this cake is likely to stick to the pan, so I decided to use a tube pan with a removable bottom; I buttered it well and as an extra precaution, I used parchment paper to line bottom of the pan as well as the center spindle.  To make the cake batter, you beat softened butter with sugar and oil until light and fluffy; add an egg and egg yolk, followed by vanilla and lemon zest; alternately add the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, salt, ground ginger, and baking soda) and the wet ingredients (heavy cream and sour cream); and fold in fresh blueberries.

You spread the batter in the pan and add a cinnamon topping made from dark brown sugar, all-purpose flour, cake flour, cinnamon, and melted butter. My topping was wet and oily, although I was able to break off chunks to sprinkle on top of the cake. I baked the cake for an hour.
The cinnamon topping layer was thick and hard after baking, and it was difficult to cut through. Even though I used a sharp serrated knife to slice the cake, large chunks of topping kept chipping off, sometimes leaving portions of the top of the cake denuded. Nonetheless, this cake was wonderful. It was dense and moist and packed with juicy blueberries. The light touch of ginger flavor was terrific, and the cinnamon topping was absolutely addictive -- I didn't let any loose chunks that fell off go to waste! This cake delivers delicious comfort in every bite.

Recipe: "Nonnie's Blueberry Buckle" from Baked Occasions by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings.

Comments

Sally said…
I (coincidentally) made this for a brunch this morning, and had the same experience - my topping was wet and oily, and hard when baked. The cake was DELICIOUS, but I made this a few months ago, and didn't have the same experience with the topping, so not sure what went wrong. I noticed that the other bakers on BSM didn't seem to have the same problem. Odd.
Anonymous said…
This cake was awesome, yours look great! I don't remember having a problem with the topping, but I do remember it being rather crunchy.
Robyn said…
Oh I just LOVED the cinnamon topping! This cake was a late-summer dream!
Pinar said…
I had the same problem with a super hard crust, but I agree, it still made for a delicious cake :)
Anonymous said…
Sally, the same thing happened to my topping!
Anonymous said…
I too had the same crumb problem-- the topping was very awkward to cut through and destroyed the top of the cake in some spots. I wonder if we cut back a bit on the butter, would it yield a more crumbly topping that would bake up softer? Anyway, I found it totally delicious too, despite this minor annoyance! :)