Apple Buckle

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Apple Buckle

“…What the heck is a buckle??!”

If you’ve never heard of such a thing, you aren’t alone in your buckle-ignorance. I had no idea why this darling little cake is called a buckle, but I kept coming across recipes during blueberry season. The most common form of buckle is this apple buckle’s blueberry counterpart. Also amazingly delicious. This cake is very much like a standard coffee-cake with a wonderful crumb topping and enough fruit added to cause the poor little cake’s spindly legs to buckle under its own weight.

Since enlightening myself, I have made three or four different variations and have loved them all, so stay tuned for more buckle recipes.

Quite often I find myself thinking that any dessert that doesn’t include embarrassing amounts of chocolate isn’t splurge-worthy. The world of buckle has opened up my mind, even if only to include these sweet indulgences into my repertoire of craved-desserts, while still ostracizing others.

Yup, it’s that good.

Apple Buckle

Apple Buckle

Adapted from Angry Asian Creations

Ingredients
Streusel
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
Cake 
1 1/4 cup sifted whole wheat flour (sift flour and then measure)
1/2 cup all purpose flour (sift flour and then measure)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup yogurt (or sour cream or milk)
3 cups diced apples
Apple Buckle
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9″ springform pan. Set aside.
2. Start by preparing the streusel: Combine the butter, flours, sugar, and cinnamon in a stand mixer until the butter is broken down into medium-sized chunks. Set aside.
3. On to the cake batter: In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flours, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
4. In a stand mixer (or with electric beaters), beat the butter, until creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the sugars, and beat on medium speed for 5-6 minutes until fluffy. Don’t skip this step, it makes for a really light and tender cake.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each. Scrape the bowl. Blend in the vanilla and the almond extract.
6. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and yogurt (or sour cream or milk) alternately, in 2 additions for the yogurt and 3 for the flour (start with the flour). Blend until just combined. Be care to not overwork the batter.
7. When the batter is totally combined, fold in the diced apple very gently.
8. Pour batter into the prepared pan and add the layer of streusel over top.
9. Bake the cake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and try not to eat the entire thing in one sitting.
Apple Buckle
This time around, I cut the recipe in half and baked it in a little springform pan. There are only two of us…not that that has ever stopped me from baking an full-sized cake before. I guess that I was feeling extra responsible this time. Ohhh, wisdom and old age…
  • http://mrsdskitchen.wordpress.com Mrs. D

    Wow! That is a loooooot of ingredients, but it looks really nice :)

    • http://culinaryadventuresinthekitchen.wordpress.com culinaryadventuresinthekitchen

      Hi! It just looks like the ingredient list is extensive, but the streusel ingredients are more of the same ingredients in the cake batter. And all of the ingredients are baking staples. I hope that you give it a try, it’s REALLY delicious! Thanks for stopping by :)