A soft and buttery cake is combined with plenty of fresh, sweet cherries in this cherry almond buckle. This dessert is as easy to make as it is delicious, with a hint of almond and a light brown sugar crumble on top. Isn't it true that summer baking is all about putting in little work for a huge payoff?

What Is a Buckle Dessert, and How Do You Make It?

Fruit cobblers, crisps, and crumbles all fall under the same dessert umbrella, despite their differences. Slump, pandowdy, boy bait, and other terms are also used. Many of them are fruit-based cobblers that are all delicious in their own way. If you want to learn more, Serious Eats delves deeper into each one.

A buckle cake is a traditional coffee cake or crumb cake studded with a large number of blueberries or other fruits. When you combine the fruit into the batter, it "buckles" or warps around the fruit while the buckle dessert bakes, giving it an indented and textured appearance. Buckles are typically served as dessert, despite the fact that they are topped with crumbs like breakfast crumb cakes.

Cherry Almond Buckle Details

Flavor: Because there isn't much else in the way, cherries stand out in this dessert. (For the same reason, you'll appreciate cherry crisp.) Of course, there's the obscenely buttery cake with traces of almond flavour and a softly cinnamon-spiced brown sugar covering, but those cherries are the real show-stealer. Literally!

Texture: This dish is based on a popular favourite, so you might know it. Our raspberry almond crumb cake is a popular choice among readers, and for good reason: the cake is extremely buttery and soft, with a layer of luscious raspberries and crunchy crumbs on top. Today's cherry buckle has the same texture as yesterday's, but with more fruit and cherries mixed right into the batter.

Ease: This recipe belongs in our novice category. The batter is produced with butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, which are all common baking components. The crumb topping is optional, but given how simple it is, you might as well toss it on top. Combine flour, brown sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon in a mixing bowl, then stir in melted butter until a crumbly texture is achieved. That is all there is to it. Choosing whether or not to eat this for breakfast

Directions

01.Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked and cooled buckle for up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature before serving.

02.Baking Pan: I recommend an 8-inch square baking pan (here’s one I use and love), a deep dish pie dish, or a 9-inch springform pan for this cherry almond buckle. A 9-inch round cake pan is a little too small. A 9-inch square baking pan could work, but the buckle will be thin and thus require a shorter bake time.

03.Sour Cream: Full fat sour cream is a key ingredient in this batter. I don’t suggest subbing the sour cream with a liquid. Plain full-fat yogurt is the best replacement.

04.Almond Extract & Almonds: Feel free to skip the almond extract and/or sliced almonds on top. If skipping the almond extract, I recommend adding about 1 teaspoon of lemon zest for some extra flavor. And if you’d like to top with another nut, chopped pecans or walnuts are excellent here.

05.Cherries: I use and recommend fresh dark sweet cherries in this recipe. Pit them, then slice in half or quarters. You could easily use rainier or sour cherries with no changes to the recipe. You can use frozen cherries if needed, but make sure they are halved or quartered. Do not thaw. If using canned cherries, drain all liquid and chop in half before using. Do not use cherries canned in heavy syrup and do not use cherry pie filling because both are already sweetened. If you’d like to substitute the cherries, we’ve tested this with the same amount of blueberries (fresh or frozen– do not thaw) and they work wonderfully. For extra flavor, feel free to add 1 teaspoon lemon zest when you add the vanilla extract.