A buckle is an American fruit dessert that began to appear in the mid-twentieth century. It is essentially a coffee cake. The cake batter is thick, filled with fruit, usually blueberries, and covered with a crumb topping. The recipe I used calls for 5 cups of blueberries, which meld with the cake to create a deliciously moist breakfast cake, perfect with coffee. Recipe to follow soon....
Pound cake is a moist, tender and rich butter cake. It stands elegantly on its own without buttercream or frosting. It's name comes from the original recipe - a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of eggs and a pound of flour. Most of the versions you find today are modified from the original, including this cake. Here, semolina flour substitutes for some of the all-purpose flour, lending a rusticity to the cake.
Semolina comes from Durum wheat, a hard high-protein wheat used in pasta-making. Semolina is coarsely ground and ressembles a fine-textured cornmeal.
Because pound cakes are rich, they are easily complimented by fruit compotes and marmalades. Kumquats make beautiful marmalades because their skin is not bitter. Though they are a bit tedious to prepare (the multiple seeds in each kumquat must be removed and kumquats are small - about an inch long and three-quarters of an inch wide), the resulting marmalade is fragrant, sweet and tart!
The recipe for this cake comes from Marcrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook. Marcrina Bakery is located in Seattle and makes beautiful artisan breads and pastries. And I am quite excited to be heading to Seattle next week, where I will be able to taste and try some of their wonderful things.
Please watch and enjoy the following video on making this Semolina Pound Cake!
