Confession: I made this snacky, breakfasty buckle cake a year ago, but kept it entirely to myself — that is, I forgot to share it with you. …Also I had four spoonfuls of ice cream for breakfast this morning (Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup). Except maybe it was six spoonfuls. Oops.
At any rate, now that berry season is upon us (here in California, anyway), it’s time for the jewel-toned crisps and crumbles, cobblers and betties and buckles to come out of the wood work. And I think by “the wood work” I mean “your oven.” (Side note: if I end up having three children and those children end up being two boys and a girl, I will be hard pressed not to name them Crisp, Buckle and Betty. My kids are going to be so popular.)
I’ve been experimenting a bit with buckwheat as of late; I made buttermilk buckwheat pancakes just last week with my tiny-faced students, and then there’s this buckle. A buckwheat berry buckle. (Alliteration is fun.) Turns out I really like the rich, delicate, nutty flavor that buckwheat flour contributes to baked goods – it seems to elevate things, somehow.
I was intrigued to learn that using buckwheat flour, even just the scant quarter cup called for here, darkens the batter (whether pancake or cookie or buckle) pretty significantly. So it doesn’t make for the prettiest crumb topping at this berry buckle ball — but I happen to know that you’re not into artificial, skin-deep beauty. You wait to make judgements until you’ve gotten to know what’s inside. And in this case? What’s inside is cake. Deeply-purplish and royally ruby-splotched, berry-laden cake.
Grab a fork and a cup of creamy coffee! It’s berry baking time.
