This vegan blueberry buckle is made with tender vanilla cake that's bursting with juicy berries and covered in buttery crumb topping. Every bite is pure bliss!
I don't know about you, but I'm in full summer dessert mode here. Bring on all the bright, fruity, juicy sweets and treats!
This vegan blueberry buckle is a new favorite. Have you ever had a blueberry buckle before? It's basically like a blueberry-studded coffee cake with a sweet crumble topping. Fun fact: it's called a buckle because what would otherwise be a rather fluffy cake gets buckled down by the weight of the berries and topping.
All you really need to know though is that it's delicious. It's like my cinnamon swirl coffee cake and my blueberry muffins had a love child.
A slice of this scrumptious cake is perfect with a cup of coffee at brunch, or after dinner with a scoop of dairy-free vanilla ice cream.
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Flour. I've only tested this recipe with all-purpose wheat flour, also known as white flour. Other varieties like spelt, whole wheat pastry, or gluten-free flour might work, but I have not tried them.
- Sugar. We're using organic granulated sugar, to ensure the recipe is vegan. Non-organic sugar is often processed using animal bone char.
- Cinnamon.
- Salt.
- Vegan butter. This is available in the refrigerated section of most supermarkets, right next to the regular butter.
- Water.
- Ground flaxseeds. You'll be mixing these with water to make a flax egg, which is a great vegan egg substitute for baking.
- Baking powder.
- Lemon zest.
- Vanilla extract.
- Non-dairy milk. Any non-dairy milk that's suitable for drinking will work, as long as it's unflavored and unsweetened. Check out my guide to dairy-free milks if you need help choosing one.
- Blueberries.
How It's Made
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Make the crumble topping first. Stir flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt together, then add sliced cold vegan butter. Use a fork or pastry cutter to cut the butter in — literally cut it into smaller bits that get coated in flour. Then chill the mixture in the fridge while you make the batter.
Stir the water and ground flaxseed together in a large mixing bowl. This is your flax egg. Once mixed, set the bowl aside for about five minutes. The flax seeds will suck up water and gel during this time.
Whisk your dry ingredients together in the meantime: flour, baking powder and salt.
Add sugar, vegan butter, lemon zest and vanilla to the flax egg, then use an electric mixer to cream everything together.
Using the mixer at low speed, beat about a third of your dry ingredients into the flax mixture, followed by a third of the non-dairy milk.
Keep alternating adding the dry ingredients and milk. Stop the mixer as soon as the batter is fully mixed.
Now gently fold the blueberries into the batter. A spatula is a great too for this, but a large spoon will also work.
Spread the batter into a greased 8 inch square baking pan, sprinkle the crumble topping over it, and pop it into the oven.
Bake the buckle until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place it on a wire rack and let it cool completely, then slice and dig in!
Shelf-Life & Storage
You can store your blueberry buckle in the original baking dish, wrapped tightly in plastic, or transfer it to an airtight container. It will keep for about a day at room temperature, about three days in the fridge, or about three months in the freezer.
More Vegan Blueberry Recipes
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Vegan Blueberry Buckle
Ingredients
For the Crumb Topping
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup organic granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch salt
- ⅓ cup vegan butter, chilled
For the Cake
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup organic granulated sugar
- ¼ cup vegan butter, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup unflavored and unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 2 cups blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease the inside of an 8 x 8 inch baking pan.
- To make the crumb toping, first stir the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into three or four slices. Add the slices to a bowl and use a pastry cutter or fork to cut the butter into the dry ingredients, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Place the crumb topping into the fridge to chill while you prepare the cake batter.
- Stir the water and ground flaxseed together in a large mixing bowl. Set this aside and let it sit for at least five minutes, to gel. You can proceed to the next step of combining the dry ingredients in the meantime.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
- Once the flax mixture has finished resting, add the sugar, vegan butter, lemon zest, and vanilla to the bowl. Cream the ingredients together for 1 minute, using an electric mixer at high speed.
- Begin alternating adding the flour mixture and non-dairy milk to the bowl with the flax mixture, adding about a third of each at a time, and beating each addition in at low speed.
- Fold the berries into the batter.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish, then sprinkle the crumb topping over the batter.
- Bake the cake for about 45 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean of batter.
- Place the baking dish on a cooling rack. Let the buckle cool completely before slicing and serving.
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Make sure you're looking at the recipe and not the discussion of ingredients within the blog post. The recipe card is at the bottom of the post. You can click the "jump to recipe" button at the top to get there.
Hi there, I am just wondering would I be able to use 1:1 gluten free flour to make this?
I think it would work based on my experience with other cake recipes, but I haven't tried it it in this particular recipe, so I can't say for sure. I would love to hear how it works if you give it a try!