Traditional Two-Berry Buckle

This is the traditional, crumb-topped coffee-cake-style buckle; you can make it with any type of berries in season. The berries, not the cake, are its essence, for a buckle is almost a berry batter pudding. It’s said to “buckle” as it bakes, but I’ve never seen that happen.

This recipe was adapted from a dessert from the former Joe’s Bar and Grill in Greenwich Village. At Joe’s, the buckle would be cut out into neat rounds with a cocktail glass and precisely arranged over a pool of