Buckle Up Buttercup

There are all sorts of ways to bake with summer fruits; pies, crisps, cobblers, and the buckle. They are all slightly different, and every one showcases the sweet, juicy deliciousness of summer’s bounty. The other day I got a case of white nectarines, which is a pretty irresponsible thing for a single person to do. They are perfuming my kitchen, but in a few days (if I don’t consume them) they will be attracting fruit flies. 

To make a buckle you typically use blueberries, or some other berry, but there aren’t any hard and fast rules. For cobbler you top a bubbling hot fruit mix with biscuit dough, crisps are baked fruit topped with a crisp topping usually with oatmeal, but there is some debate. A buckle is a cake bottom topped with fruit that makes the cake buckle under its weight.

I started out to put mine in a 9″ cake pan, but when I got a look at my four cups of nectarines I moved into a spring-form pan. If you have a deep cake pan it will be fine, but mine is not. Because I love crunch I topped my buckle with chopped, toasted pecans tossed with some sugar. You can certainly consider this an optional step. I used fresh grated ginger, but candied ginger would be a great substitute if you’re feeling fancy (and have it on hand).  Both my mother and grandmother loved candied ginger, and it goes well with any and everything peach. 

You can make this cake batter and top it with four cups of any soft fruit you like. A mix of berries, or berries and peaches or nectarines, plums; you get the picture. I recommend using lemon zest no matter what fruit you use, but I would only use ginger with peach or nectarine. You could also play around with different extract flavors such as lemon, orange, or almond.

Nectarine Buckle

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Serves	8
Prep time	1 hour
Cook time	50 minutes
Total time	1 hour, 50 minutes
Meal type	Breakfast, Dessert

Ingredients

• 4 Large nectarines or peaches (skinned and sliced thin)
• 1 cup pecans (toasted and chopped)
• zest of one lemon
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 stick butter (at room temperature)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 Large eggs (at room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cup flour (all purpose)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Note

• To remove skins from nectarines bring a pot of water to a boil.
• Make an X in the bottom of each piece of fruit
• Put fruit into boiling water for 40 seconds
• Remove fruit to an ice bath
• Skins should pull away easily with a paring knife

Directions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375F (350 if using convection) While oven is preheating toast pecans for 8-10 minutes, until fragrant, Do not brown. Butter a deep 9" spring-form, or cake pan, and line bottom with parchment, butter that as well.

Step 2

Mix sliced fruit with the lemon zest and grated ginger. Add 1 tsp of the measured sugar to the fruit Add 1 tsp of the measured sugar to the chopped pecans

Step 3

In an stand mixer beat butter and sugars together until fluffy Add eggs one at a time, waiting until each one is incorporated before adding the next one. Add vanilla with the last egg.

Step 4

In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt and whisk together. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture and mix until combined. Batter will be thick.

Step 5

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, top with fruit, then top that with pecans. Bake 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Run a knife around the edge Let cool, and serve in wedges.