Huckleberry Buckle

This slightly sweet coffee cake makes a great breakfast treat. I divided the batter between two cake pans, making two thin layers of cake, and added a liberal amount of spiced frosting. Enjoy!


For 1 cake, you'll need:

+ butter, 1 stick, melted and cooled
+ whole milk, 1/2 cup
+ 2 eggs
+ sugar, 2/3 cup
+ flour, 2/3 cup
+ whole wheat flour, 1 cup
+ ground coriander, 1 teaspoon
+ baking powder, 3 teaspoons
+ salt, 1 pinch
+ orange zest, 1/2 teaspoon
+ dried* huckleberries**, 1 cup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; liberally grease 2 round 9" cake pans.

Whisk together butter, eggs and milk. Sift together sugar, flour, whole wheat flour, coriander, baking powder and salt. Gradually incorporate dry ingredients into wet mixture. Fold in huckleberries and orange zest.

Divide batter evenly between cake pans. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely.

While the cakes cool, prepare the frosting. You'll need:

+ butter, 6 tablespoons, softened
+ ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon
+ ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon
+ powdered sugar, ≈ 2 cups
+ pecans, coarsely chopped, 1/2 cup

Whip butter, cinnamon and cloves. Gradually incorporate powdered sugar until frosting becomes stiff. Fold in pecans.

To assemble, place the first layer of cake top-down. Evenly spread frosting on top; place the second layer of cake top-up, directly over the frosting. Dig in!

* If you're lucky enough to live in the NW United States, feel free to use fresh huckleberries. Reduce to 3/4 cup; rinse and pat dry. Toss in flour (this prevents the berries from sinking to the bottom of the cake) and proceed with recipe.

** If you can't procure huckleberries, you can easily use dried cherries, raisins or dried blueberries. Mix it up!