Lemon Blueberry Buckle Up

It's been a funny summer here, and by funny, I mean totally lame. Unseasonably cold and wet, by far the most disappointing one since I moved to Portland five years ago. The weathermen called last month "Juneuary." That pretty much sums it up.

Because of this, I haven't been out and about as much as I have in the past, less farmer's markets, no berry picking, and I keep putting my winter clothes away, only to angrily dig them back out again a couple days later. Anyway, in years past I'd spend every weekend whipping up some kind of baked berry goodness, starting with rhubarb in April and chugging along until the last round of blackberries at the end of the summer. But this year, it's like I emerged from my cave and all of a sudden it's blueberry time. Sorry strawberries. See you next year. Maybe.

Today I picked up a couple pints of blueberries from the farmer's market, and made what might be my favorite recipe yet from my stained, sticky copy of Rustic Fruit Desserts: the Lemon Blueberry Buckle. Oh yes. It's everything you'd dare to hope.

Lemon Blueberry Buckle

Crumb topping:
1/2 c flour
1/3 c granulated sugar
pinch salt
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 c butter, room temp, cubed

Cake:
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
pinch salt
1/4 t nutmeg
6 T butter, same drill as above
3/4 c granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1/2 c buttermilk (I used heavy whipping cream, it turned out well)
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Lemon Syrup: (You read that correctly. Lemon. Syrup.)
1/3 c granulated sugar
juice of 2 lemons

Preheat the oven to 350, and butter a 9" baking pan. Make the crumb topping, mixing all of the dry ingredients, then add the butter and mix with your fingers until it's... crumby. Toss it in the freezer.

To make the cake, whisk the dry ingredients together. Using a mixer (paddle attachment if you have it), cream the butter, sugar and eggs, adding them one at a time. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half the cream, repeat, and then toss in the last of the flour. Fold in half of the blueberries, and spread the mixture into the pan. Put the remaining blueberries on top, and then add the crumb topping. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes, until lightly golden - take it out when you can stick a knife in it and it comes out clean.

About ten minutes before you take it out of the oven, mix the lemon juice with the sugar, and heat in a small saucepan on medium until it turns thicker and syrupy. Pour if over the cake right after you take it out of the oven. But wait a few minutes before you lick the syrup out of the pan. A mistake you only make once. Or twice.