
I have impulse control issues when it comes to buying local fruit in the summertime – I bring home enough berries to feed a family of grizzly bears.
Thankfully, my own baby bear loves nothing more than cramming handfuls of juicy raspberries into his cheeks. But even so, we always have more than I know what to do with.

I love easy, casual desserts like this to use up my berry bounty.
A buckle is a lovely cake with ripe, juicy blackberries (or other fruit) nestled into the batter prior to baking. I love the rustic appeal of baking it in a cast iron skillet.
Melting the butter in the skillet itself doubles to grease the baking surface. All it needs to finish it off is a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.

And guess what? It doubles seamlessly as breakfast the next day…

Blackberry Buckle
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup whole milk room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the topping
- 3 cups fresh blackberries
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- confectioners' sugar for dusting, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Melt the butter in a 10–12-inch cast iron skillet. Transfer to a bowl and whisk in the milk and vanilla. (If the milk is too cold, the butter will solidify — warm the mixture if needed to re-melt the butter.)
- Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined. The batter will be lumpy — don't over-stir, or the cake won't be tender.
- Scrape the batter into the cast iron skillet. Toss the blackberries with the 2 tbsp granulated sugar, then scatter over the batter. Bake about 40 minutes, until deeply golden and springy when pressed. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.













Hi- this is my go to recipe for berries if we can’t eat them fast enough… but it seems that your website refresh messed up the flour measurement, would you be able to let me know what it is? thank you.
Hi- this is my go to recipe for berries if we can’t eat them fast enough… but it seems that your website refresh messed up the flour measurement, would you be able to let me know what it is? thank you.
Hi- this is my go to recipe for berries if we can’t eat them fast enough… but it seems that your website refresh messed up the flour measurement, would you be able to let me know what it is? thank you.
Hi- this is my go to recipe for berries if we can’t eat them fast enough… but it seems that your website refresh messed up the flour measurement, would you be able to let me know what it is? thank you.