Huckleberry Buckle + Moving

Monday was my last day at work… It happened a little suddenly (and secretively), because my office didn’t have a two-week notice policy; the day you choose to leave is your last. So I went to work, had a fabulous last hurrah and finished up some loose ends, spent the day with people that I really really like and am going to miss terribly, and then sent out my final email which included a picture of puppies.

Wait… why might you ask would I quit my awesome start-up job in San Francisco right when things are getting exciting? Well, to move back to New England! Essentially, we thought to ourselves – is this where we want to be in five years? Ten years? And the answer is, not really. Mostly because I want to be close to my family and friends, and also, a teeny tiny dwelling roughly the size of your mom’s garage (technical term there) will cost about 1.3 million dollars in our neighborhood. That wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

In about two weeks, we are selling most of our things, packing up the car and going on a road trip! The journey will take us to Reno, Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha, Chicago, lunch stop in Ann Arbor for some Zingermans, Cleveland, Syracuse, and then finally the ‘Shire, until we can get our act together and move to Boston. I’m going to need plenty of good recommendations for road food in these cities.

Among the master list of things to do before an outrageous move, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks making a concerted effort to clean out my freezer. First, I took everything out and created a long list of the contents. Aside from the usual freezer items, I had some very special items I’ve been saving up (aka hoarding) and now I get to actually eat! The Skillet Bacon Jam that Seattle Tall Poppy brought me was particularly exciting, as was the chocolate babka made by Michael Kalanty (author of How to Bake Bread), and perhaps best of all – a bag of tart and sweet wild huckleberries that was foraged by the legendary Connie Green (author of The Wild Table). Who for the record looks exactly like Meryl Streep.

I decided to do something special with these huckleberries – a huckleberry buckle! (Okay, mostly because it is fun to say). While searching yesterday for suitable/off-beat information about huckleberries on the internet I found this: apparently Stone Temple Pilots have a song on their new album called “Huckleberry Crumble”. The song has nothing to do with baking, and as far as I can tell may be about a bad relationship and has some offhand references to Alice in Wonderland.

I had saved this particular recipe from Saveur a few issues back that I had been meaning to try with blueberries (until I remembered that I had a whole bag of huckleberries in my freezer). The cake is moist, crumbly and sweet – suitable for afternoon tea, dessert, or even breakfast.

Huckleberry Buckle
(Adapted from Saveur Issue #122)

This could be easily made with fresh or frozen blueberries, but huckleberries are a particular treat if you can find them. Also, this actually great as it sits, so you could definitely make this a few days in advance of a barbecue or picnic, and you’d be the party pleaser.

8 tbsp. unsalted butter,
softened, plus more for pan
6 tbsp. plus 1 3/4 cups flour,
plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 lb. huckleberries or blueberries


1. Set the oven to 350˚. Butter and flour a 9″ (or in my case, 10″) springform cake pan and set aside. For the topping,  put 4 tbsp. butter, 6 tbsp. flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together, and squidge with your fingers until the mixture comes together into small clumps. This is possibly the most satisfying step of the recipe, so have fun here.

2. In the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer, beat the remaining butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add vanilla and egg and beat until smooth. Add the flour, salt, baking powder and stir to mix. Add the milk and mix for 1 minute. Add the huckleberries and, using a rubber spatula, fold them gently into the batter. If you do this aggressively you batter will turn bright purple, so gently is the key!

3. Spoon the batter into prepared pan, gently spreading to an even layer, and sprinkle with crumbly topping. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 1/2 hours. Let cool before serving. Spoon into bowls and top with softly whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream (or, if you feel like being slightly uncouth – just pour on some half and half) .