Buckwheat Strawberry Buckle with Almond and Cashew Streusel

This is an enriched version of Blue Bottle Coffee’s Strawberry Buckle cake.

The original recipe uses all white flour, but I’ve really been enjoying adding buckwheat or rye flour to my bakes.

If you’re not sure about buckwheat flour, give it a try. It’s nutritionally one of the better gluten-free ingredients, it has calcium, phophorus and rutin (helps prevent heart disease)! Obviously, cake is never “healthy”, but buckwheat flour makes it a little bit more…healthful…?

Buckwheat Strawberry Buckle with Almond and Cashew Streusel

Makes enough for 11-12 muffins or one 9-inch cake pan 
adapted from The Blue Bottle Coffee Craft of Coffee

Ingredients

Streusel

6 tablespoons (85 g) cold unsalted butter
1 cup (140 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup (76 g) coarsely chopped nuts

Cake

1 cup (140g) flour mix  (sub with 85 g light buckwheat flour + 55 g pastry flour)
1 teaspoon  baking powder
11 tablespoons (156 g) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup (125 g) sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup strawberries, cut into bite-sized pieces

To make

For the streusel:

In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, salt and zest. Add butter and mix on low speed until mixture resembles coarse beach sand, about 2 minutes. Add the nuts and mix just until it begins to clump together.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

For the cake:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.

Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, about 5 to 10 minutes in a standmixer/handmixer or as long as needed by hand! In a small bowl, combine the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until well blended. Add the egg mixture a little bit at a time to the creamed butter until well-incorporated and very smooth. Mix in the dry ingredients followed by the sour cream.

Transfer the batter to a prepared pan. Top with the streusel. Bake for a minimum of 55 to 60 minutes, until streusel is dry and  the cake is firm and springs back when gently pressed in the centre.