Cardamom & Spelt Plum Buckle (Whole Grain, Freshly Milled)

Soft, rich and indulgent, this spelt damson buckle is spiked with cinnamon, cardamom and nutty, freshly milled whole grain flavors — and possibly the best fresh milled cake recipe you’ll ever find!

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Overhead shot of golden brown spelt damson buckle, sitting on a light grey fabric, next to a bowl of gleaming white whipped cream.

Let’s swap secrets and share insights today:

It’s never as bad as you think it is.
That’s sort of a general insight and an invitation to take yourself less seriously (if you need it).
This spelt buckle is so plush, rich and indulgent that using freshly milled flour feels like it’s a sweet little secret between you and your grain mill. I’ve served it twice and no one guessed that it was whole grain!

If you want to convince someone that milling at home is worth it, serve them this cake.
Fresh flour tastes richer, keeps you fuller longer, and — with the right recipe — can bake up softer than all-purpose flour. If that doesn’t convince them, nothing will. But it will.

On Buckles and Coffee Cakes

I first came across the concept of buckle cake, when I was working on my Sourdough Cherry Coffee Cake recipe.

Buckles and coffee cakes are closely related. Both are loved for their soft, fluffy texture, rich mouthfeel and generous use of cinnamon.

So what sets them apart?

Coffee cake usually has an extra middle layer of cinnamon sugar and includes fruit only as a seasonal twist. A buckle uses fresh, in-season fruit as a core ingredient: A rich, velvety cake batter gets topped with fresh fruit and finished with a crumble topping. The batter rises in the oven and “buckles” around the fruit.

So a buckle is a lot like a coffee cake, but with fewer steps. (A hidden perk in lazy-baker-land.)

A generous slice of cardamom-spiced spelt damson buckle is served with a dollop of whipped cream on a blue plate with a geometric pattern,

Why You’ll Love This Freshly Milled Spelt Damson Buckle Recipe

This is one of the fluffiest, softest cakes I’ve ever made — whole grain or not — thanks to the secret ingredient: crème fraîche. It adds richness and turns fresh milled whole grain flour into a cake-y soft cloud.

To make it even more indulgent, we spice that cloud with heaps of cinnamon and cardamom, top it with juicy sliced damsons and finish it with a cinnamon-spiked crumble.

The result is a deeply flavorful cake, infused with fall spices and grounded in nutty whole spelt.

Want to hear another secret? Fresh milled flour desserts pack serious nutrition, and your body will pick up on it. A slice of this cake won’t just satisfy your sweet tooth — it’ll actually keep you full. Even after five years of milling at home, that’s still one of my favorite perks. But don’t take my word for it — try it! I think you’ll love it.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Fresh plums, vanilla extract, ground cardamom and freshly milled spelt flour are the core ingredients for this super soft fall buckle recipe.

Freshly Milled Spelt Flour
Spelt has a wonderful nutty and, in my opinion, creamy flavor. Freshly milled tastes best, but store-bought whole grain spelt flour work well too.

Fall Spices
I generously spike my buckle batter with extra cinnamon — and cardamom, which is my favorite fall spice, especially in combination! If you don’t have cardamom on hand, you can easily swap pumpkin spice.

Crème Fraîche
It adds tang and richness to the batter and creates a velvety, tender crumb. Keep it on your shopping list — you may want to make this cake again.
Pro Tip: If your supermarket doesn’t carry crème fraîche, sour cream makes a great substitute. It’s not quite as rich, but it still works beautifully. Since sour cream is tangier than crème fraîche, you can skip the lemon juice in the recipe.

Damsons
Use damsons, or any other oval or regular, yellow or red plums available to you.

How to Make Cardamom-Spiced Spelt Damson Buckle (Step-by-Step)

01

Prepare the Dry Ingredients

A blue bowl filled with freshly milled spelt flour, cinnamon & cardamom, surrounded by a blue striped tea towel and golden measuring spoons.

Weigh out whole spelt berries (210g in total) and mill them on the finest setting on your grain mill. Remove 35g to a separate bowl for the crumble topping. Add baking powder, cinnamon and cardamom to the rest and set aside.

02

Prepare the Crumble Topping

Cinnamon-spiked crumble topping has been prepped in a pale blue bowl, surrounded by a small whisk, golden measuring spoons and a striped tea towel.

Melt the butter in a medium-small bowl in the microwave, or in a small pot on the stove.
Whisk together with sugar and salt by hand. Add the weighed out flour and cinnamon and mix together into a crumbly mass. Set aside to rest.

03

Make the Cake Batter

In a large bowl, beat together softened butter, sugar and salt until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time and mix until incorporated. Beat on high until the batter is light and airy.

Butter and sugar have been beaten in a stainless steel bowl until pale and fluffy.

Butter, sugar and eggs have been beaten until pale, airy and foamy,

Gently mix in crème fraîche, vanilla extract and lemon juice.
Add the fresh milled flour, spices and baking powder and mix to combine. Rest the batter while you prep the fruit and pan.

Wet ingredients are mixed into a velvety batter. The trail of the whisks has left ribbons throughout the pale yellow batter.

Moody shot of assembled cake batter, stirred together with a white silicone spatula.

04

Prep the Fruit

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease your cake pan generously with butter and set aside.
Wash and drain the damsons in a colander. Halve each damson, remove the stone and slice each half lengthwise.

A generously buttered silver cake pan sits on a wooden counter, next to a set of golden measuring spoons and a striped tea towel.

Sliced damson plums in stainless steel measuring cups are sitting on pale blue and white striped tea towel.

05

Assemble & Bake the Cake

Once the oven is hot, give the cake batter a gentle stir and transfer it to the prepared cake pan. Smooth out the top, then add the sliced damsons in an even layer.

Overhead shot of the luscious cake batter being spread around in the cake pan.

Sliced damson plums are evenly spread on a velvety spelt buckle batter in a silver cake pan. A small bowl of cinnamon-spiked crumble topping sits on the side.

Break up the crumble topping with your fingers and sprinkle it evenly over the damsons.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let the cake cool down on a wire rack to settle the crumb before you release the cake from the pan.

Assembled cake in a silver cake pan. Yellow and purple slices of fresh plums are peeking through the golden brown cinnamon crumble topping.

Golden baked spelt damson buckle is cooling of on a black wire rack. It's surrounded by a striped tea towel and fresh, purple damson plums.

Tips

Rest the Batter: Fresh flour benefits from a brief rest to hydrate the bran and soften the batter. If using store-bought flour, you can skip this step. Prep your fruit, cake pan, and crumble topping first, then assemble immediately once the batter is ready.
Slice Fruit: I have made this cake with halved plums and sliced plums. Both were delicious but the halved plums didn’t sink into the cake, placed cut side down on the batter. Pick what suits your style.
Don’t Be Scared Of Your Mixer: A light hand when mixing flour into cake batter is never wrong. But you don’t need to worry about using the mixer here! Spelt doesn’t contain a lot of gluten, so the risk of accidentally over developing it (and risking tough cake) is minimal.

Variations

You can generally swap spelt and soft wheat in cake recipes without a problem. In Europe, it’ll simply be labeled as wheat.
Pair the whole grain cake base with any in-season fruit you love. Damsons & other plums, apples, pears — whatever your garden or farmers market is bursting with at the time.
Double the crumble topping if you’re in need of a little extra mood-booster.

Close up shot of sliced spelt buckle, showing the tender, plush crumb. A small blue glazed bowl holds bright white whipped cream.

A piece of cardamom-spiced spelt damson buckle is served on a floral plate, topped with bright white whipped cream.

How to Serve Freshly Milled Spelt Damson Buckle

Since fresh flour desserts are so nutritious, it’s up to you whether you want to dress it up or down.

For dessert, I like to dust the cake with powdered sugar and serve with soft whipped cream.
Leftovers are great for breakfast with a dollop of yogurt, Greek yogurt, or other protein rich dairy you love.

How to Store

Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. The crumb will firm up a little, so let it come back to room temperature before serving.

I haven’t tried freezing this buckle — but theoretically it should freeze just fine, wrapped tightly in foil, for 2 months.

More from the Grains & Greens Kitchen

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Recipe FAQs

You can swap soft wheat and spelt in most cake recipes. If you want to use a different modern or ancient grain, you may need to adjust the liquids a little.

Of course! Using whole grain spelt flour will absolutely work.
In Europe, pick up any whole wheat flour, as wheat is usually soft by default here.
In the States, using whole wheat flour may require additional liquids, as hard wheat is more absorbent. Either add additional crème fraiche to your batter, or try to find white whole wheat flour, which is a little softer.

Cardamom isn’t the most common spice, so if you’re out, you can replace it with a teaspoon of ground ginger, pumpkin pie spice, or German Lebkuchengewürz — or just use an extra teaspoon of cinnamon. If you’re not used to cardamom, you can also start with 1/2 teaspoon first. It can be intense if you haven’t had it before.

I haven’t tested a dairy-free version yet, so I can’t recommend swaps, but using a high-quality vegan block butter and vegan crème fraîche could be a good starting point for experimenting.

If you make this Cardamom-Spiced spelt Damson Buckle…

I’d love to hear how it turned out!

P.S. If you’re into freshly milled cake, you might love these recipes too:

Spelt Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting Another fall-spiced favorite, made with a generous amount of fresh grated carrots.
Easy Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes I have tested these with literally every grain in my kitchen — and they always come out perfect!

happy baking!

P.P.S. If you have any insights to share yourself —be it on cake, fresh flour or life in general— drop a comment below.

Cardamom-Spiced Damson Buckle with Freshly Milled Spelt Flour

This fresh milled spelt buckle is a nutritional unicorn, wrapped in fall flavors. It's an easy whole grain cake recipe that's deeply flavorful and infused with fall spice. The cake is incredibly soft and rich, topped with juicy fresh fruit and finished with a cinnamon-spiked crumble. It's a crowd-pleaser and deceptively healthy — I swear, no one will ever guess it's whole grain!

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5 from 1 vote

Prep Time:15

Bake Time:50

Total Time:1 5

Servings:12 slices

Calories:270kcal

Equipment

9-inch (23cm) Cake Pan - (a spring form or removable-bottom pan work well)
Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer

Ingredients

Crumble Topping

30 g melted butter - (2 tbsp)
50 g brown sugar - (¼ cup)
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ pinch salt
35 g freshly milled spelt flour - (¼ cup)

Dry Cake Ingredients

175 g freshly milled spelt flour - (~1 cup)
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom

Wet Cake Ingredients

115 g butter, at room temperature - (½ cup)
150 g raw cane sugar - (¾ cup)
2 large eggs
160 g crème fraîche - (⅔ cup)
½ tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

275 g sliced damsons - (1½ – 2 cups)

Instructions