Cherry Almond Buckle

This cherry almond buckle combines a soft and buttery cake with plenty of fresh, sweet cherries. Hinted with almond and lightly topped with a brown sugar crumble, this dessert is just as simple as it is delicious. There’s truly very little effort for a big reward—and isn’t that what summer baking is all about?

One reader, Ellie, commented: “This was one of my favorite things I’ve ever baked! It is delicious. Cherry and almond is the best combo, and the cake was so moist and fluffy! Home run. ★★★★★”

What Is a Buckle Dessert?

Berry cobbler, crisps, and crumbles—though different, these specialties all fall under the same dessert umbrella. There’s also slump, pandowdy, boy bait, and more. A lot of these are cobbler-like desserts made with fruit, each tasty in their own right, and excellent alternatives to more time-consuming fruit pies and pie crust. Serious Eats breaks down each into detail if you’re interested in reading more!

A buckle cake is an old-fashioned coffee cake or crumb cake studded with lots of blueberries or other various fruits. You mix the fruit into the batter and as the buckle dessert bakes, it “buckles” or warps around the fruit which gives the surface an indented and textured appearance. Though it’s topped with crumbs like breakfast crumb cakes, buckles are usually enjoyed for dessert. (Though there’s every excuse to serve this first thing in the morning!)

So isn’t this just a fruity crumb cake that we eat for dessert? Yes. And it’s awesome.

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Cherry Almond Buckle Details

• Flavor: This is a dessert where cherries shine because there’s not much else in the way. (You’ll love cherry crisp for the same reason.) Of course there’s also the impossibly buttery cake with hints of almond extract, plus a lightly cinnamon-spiced brown sugar topping, but even still… those cherries take the cake. Literally!
• Texture: You may recognize this recipe because it’s based off of a popular favorite. Many readers absolutely adore our raspberry almond crumb cake and with good reason—the cake is extra buttery and soft with a layer of juicy raspberries and crisp crumbs on top. Today’s cherry buckle has the same texture, but we’re using more fruit and mixing the cherries directly in the batter. (Which is what we do when making this blackberry cream cheese crumb cake, too.)
• Ease: This falls under our beginner recipes category. The batter is made from very basic baking ingredients like butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. The crumb topping is optional, but you might as well throw it on top considering how easy it is. Mix flour, brown sugar, and a touch of cinnamon together, then gently mix in melted butter until crumbly. That’s it. Deciding if this is for breakfast or dessert will be your hardest job.

Key Ingredients in This Cherry Buckle

Here’s everything you need to know about key ingredients used in this cherry buckle recipe. Give it a quick read before starting at home!

• Flour: You’ll use all-purpose flour in both the cake batter and crumb topping. Some buckle recipes call for cake flour, but it proved much too light for the heavy cherries.
• Baking Powder: The original crumb cake recipe uses both baking powder and baking soda. I skip the baking soda in this recipe because I didn’t want the cake to rise too tall. Really, the center of attention here is the cherries.
• Sugar: Use white granulated sugar in the cake batter and brown sugar in the crumb topping. To simplify it, you could certainly use white granulated sugar in the topping but you’ll miss the brown sugar flavor. Do not use brown sugar in the batter because the baked buckle will taste too heavy.
• Sour Cream: Cake recipes usually call for a liquid such as milk, but we’re using semi-liquid sour cream here. It keeps the crumb extra moist and tender—I wouldn’t swap for buttermilk because the dessert may end up tasting gooey. As a result of using sour cream, the cake batter is pretty thick. Do your best to fold in the cherries without over-mixing.
• 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.
• Cinnamon & Almonds in Crumb Topping: These two add a little flair to the brown sugar crumb topping. I didn’t want anything to overpower the cherries, so I went light on both. We definitely enjoyed the crunch of the almonds on top and if you love a little texture, so will you.

*Special Baking Tools: I don’t use it often but when I need it, I am massively grateful that I have it… a cherry pitter. You will save so much prep time, effort, and mess. You’ll also need the correct size baking pan and 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.

(The pictured pie plate I’m using is from Target a few years ago and I can’t find it anymore!)

If you love baking with cherries, you’ll also love my cherry pie, cherry pie bars, cherry cobbler, cherry almond linzer cookies, and cherry pastry pies.

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