Peach Blackberry Buckle
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If you’re looking for an easy summer dessert, this old-fashioned buckle is hard to beat. It comes together with pantry staples and lets ripe peaches and blackberries shine.
A buckle is a simple fruit cake—batter on the bottom, fruit scattered on top, all baked together in one pan. This peach blackberry version is wonderfully easy to make. You melt the butter right in a skillet or baking dish, pour the batter over it without stirring, then scatter the fruit on top. As it bakes, the fruit sinks into the batter, creating soft, jammy pockets throughout the cake. The recipe is adapted from Flavors of the Southern Coast by Rick Rogers. It’s a summer favorite, perfect after a trip to the farm stand and especially good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
“So delicious! The recipe reminds me of one handed down to me from a great-aunt…Everyone loved it.”
Buckle, Crisp, Cobbler: What’s the Difference?
Buckles belong to that wonderful family of rustic, old-fashioned fruit desserts that also includes crisps, crumbles, and cobblers, but each is built a little differently. A crisp or crumble tops fruit with a streusel, like my plum crisp or peach crisp, a cobbler tops fruit with a biscuit-like dough, like my blueberry cobbler or peach cobbler.
A buckle flips the structure: the fruit sits on top of a cake batter rather than under a topping. As it bakes, the fruit sinks in and the cake rises up and around it, causing the top to buckle and crinkle, hence the name. The result lands somewhere between a coffee cake and a cobbler: a tender, fruit-studded cake you can serve warm, straight from the pan.
What You’ll Need To Make Peach Blackberry Buckle
You’ll need peaches, blackberries, light brown sugar, unsalted butter, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, and vanilla extract. Vanilla ice cream is optional for serving. Whipped cream would be delicious, too.
Substitutions: You can swap in other soft summer fruits here. Strawberries, blueberries, and plums would all work well in place of the peaches or blackberries. Keep in mind that different fruits release different amounts of juice and vary in sweetness, so the texture and flavor may shift a bit from the original. I haven’t tested other combinations myself, so start with a similar volume of fruit and keep an eye on the bake time.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Macerate the fruit. In a medium bowl, combine the peaches, blackberries, and brown sugar. Toss well and set aside while making the batter so the fruit can release its juices.
Pro Tip: Don’t pour off the juices the fruit releases—those flavorful juices become part of the batter as the buckle bakes.
Step 2: Melt the butter. Put the butter in a cast iron skillet or a square pan and place it in the oven for about 5 minutes to melt, then carefully remove it.
Pro tip: Always place a dish towel over the handle if using a skillet as a reminder that it’s hot—it’s easy to forget and burn yourself.
Step 3: Make the batter. Whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix the milk, egg, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and whisk until the batter is smooth.
Step 4: Layer and bake. Pour the batter over the melted butter in the skillet, arrange the fruit evenly over the top, drizzle any remaining juice over everything, and bake for about an hour until golden brown.
Pro Tip: Resist the urge to press the fruit into the batter. As the buckle bakes, the fruit naturally sinks to just the right depth, creating pockets of juicy fruit throughout the cake.
Step 5: Cool and serve. Let the buckle cool briefly, then serve warm, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if you like. This buckle is best served warm from the oven, but leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for longer storage.
More Summer Desserts You’ll Love
Peach Blackberry Buckle
Ingredients
- 2 ripe peaches, sliced ½-in (13-mm) thick (no need to peel)
- 1 (6-oz) container (about 1⅓ cups) fresh blackberries
- ½ cup (packed) light brown sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup milk (any kind)
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position.
- In a medium bowl, combine the peaches, blackberries, and brown sugar. Toss well, then set aside while making the batter so the fruit can give off some juices.
- Put the butter in a 10-in (25-cm) cast iron skillet or a 9-in (23-cm) square pan, and place in the oven until melted, about 5 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven (if using a skillet, place a dish towel on the handle to remind yourself it’s hot).
- In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, and vanilla, then add to the flour mixture and whisk until the batter is smooth.
- Pour the batter over the butter in the skillet (or pan), but do not stir it together. Arrange the peaches and berries evenly over the batter and drizzle any juices in the bowl over them.
- Bake until golden brown, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I made it exactly as the recipe stated. it turned out beautiful and my family loved it.
So delicious! The recipe reminds me of one handed down to me from a great-aunt many years ago that used sour cherries. I made it with blueberries instead of blackberries and subbed gluten free 1 for 1 flour mix. Everyone loved it.
Ooh I can’t wait to try this! Would this recipe work with other summer fruits? Like strawberries, blueberries, plums?
Yes, overall I think this would work well with other summer fruits, but without having tested them, I don’t know whether or not you need to tweak the level of sweetness and if any fruit would generate more juice than the peach and blackberries. I’d love to hear what you think if you try any other combos!
Delicious summer treat