Desserts
Cherry-Almond Buckle
Combining the best of cakes and crumbles, this dessert has fruit baked into its batter plus a streusel-like top.
When you slice into a buckle, the reasoning behind the name of the old-fashioned dessert becomes apparent — the surface of the cake actually buckles under the weight of the fruit and topping. To lend just the right amount of support, the traditional sponge cake batter is thicker than you’d expect, so don’t be surprised if you need to spoon it into the baking dish.
Although blueberries are the most popular fruit baked into buckles, that may change once this recipe with sweet, juicy cherries gets out there. The flavor is exceptional when paired with a crumbly streusel topping of crushed amaretti cookies and almonds.
Ingredients
FOR THE CRUMBLE TOPPING,
COMBINE:
FOR THE BUCKLE, CREAM:
Test Kitchen Tips
Amaretti are airy, macaroon-type cookies made with bitter almond paste or apricot-kernel paste. For good texture, be sure to get crisp ones, not soft.
Pit cherries using a vegetable peeler if you don’t have a pitter. Just insert the point into the stem of the cherry, rotate the blade, and scoop out the seed. You caneliminate juice splattering by placing the cherries in a large plastic bag while you do this.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 2-qt. baking dish with nonstick spray.
For the crumble topping, combine flour, amaretti cookies, butter, almonds, and brown sugar with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Chill topping while making the batter.
For the buckle, cream butter and granulated sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy; beat in vanilla.
Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Spread batter into prepared baking dish.
Drop cherries onto batter; sprinkle crumble topping evenly over fruit. Bake buckle until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and crumble topping is crisp and golden, about 40 minutes. Serve buckle warm or at room temperature with whipped cream.
Keep the crumbs contained by crushing the amaretti cookies in a resealable plastic bag.
To help form a fine crumb in the cake, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and light.
Arrange the cherries on top of the cake. They’ll release juice as they’re baked, which the cake will soak up.