Mom’s Best Shortcake

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Last night after supper, I overheard my youngest saying  to one of his online friends, “My mom makes the best shortcake ever!”  Since this recipe got such rave reviews from the family, I figured I'd share it here, too.

By my husband's request (since it was Father's Day), I whipped up some strawberry-raspberry shortcake with lightly sweetened whipped cream. The old-fashioned, not-too-sweet flavor of this tender, moist cake pairs well with the tart-sweet strawberry-raspberry blend and rich whipped cream. It's an easy to make dessert that's fancy enough for special occasions, but easy enough for an any time treat. The recipe doubles well and also make great cupcakes.

Mom's Best Shortcake

Adapted from the “One Egg Cake” recipe from Betty Crocker's New Picture Cookbook.

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk

Topping

• 2 cups fresh or previously frozen raspberries
• 2 cups fresh or previously frozen strawberries
• sweetener for berries, to taste (1/2 cup sugar, or 10-15 drops liquid stevia, or more)
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 cup powder sugar  -or-
• vanilla liquid stevia, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9 inch round, 9″x9″ square pan or two 8 inch rounds or 12 cup cupcake pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and stir until blended. Set aside. In medium bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to butter and egg mixture, stirring after each addition, until all ingredients are added. You can do this in an electric mixer, too, I just like mixing some things by hand.

Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Bake 30 to 45 minutes, until lightly golden brown on top, pulling slightly away from the edges of the pan and testing done with a toothpick. (8 inch pans will take around 30 minutes, 9 inch round will take closer to 45, square is in between.)

Invert onto wire rack to cool.

Note:  This recipe can be easily doubled and used to bake two cakes instead of one. I pop one in the freezer to keep a quick and easy dessert on hand.

To make the topping, chop berries together using a potato masher or pastry blender. Add sweetener, let sit for around 20 minutes. If using sugar, this time will help the sugar to draw liquid out of the berries for your berry sauce. If using stevia, you'll need to to mash them enough to make their own liquid. Thawed berries will be very juicy on their own. You can also use more berries if you like.

Whip the cream until soft peaks start to form, add the vanilla and powder sugar or vanilla liquid stevia and whip until moderately firm. 

Serve by cutting the cake into wedges and slicing in half horizontally (if desired), topping each piece with berries and whipped cream, as in photo above. Alternatively, if feeding a crowd, you can berry and cream the entire cake or cakes and cut slices – your choice.

I used frozen berries to clear out the freezer before the new harvest comes in, but either fresh or frozen will work well – whatever you have. Our local strawberries tend to come in before the local raspberries, but sometimes we get a bit of overlap.

When I made cupcakes instead of cakes, the boys were nabbing them and spreading them with homemade strawberry jam or raspberry jam. 

I've also had good results substituting Namaste Gluten Free Flour Blend to make a gluten free shortcake.

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If you'd like a gluten free, refined sugar free shortcake recipe, check out this recipe for gluten free strawberry shortcake made with almond flour.

As always, if you've enjoyed the post, please share it with your friends. You're my advertising department. 😉

If you have an abundance of berries, you make want to sneak a peek at these recipe books. I don't own them, but I'd like to. 🙂