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.
PrintMom's Best Shortcake
Ingredients
For the 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
For the 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
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9 inch round, 9″x9″ square pan, or two 8 inch rounds or 12 muffin tins.
- 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.
- 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. Cupcakes take around 18-20 minutes
- Invert or place onto wire rack to cool.
- 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.
Notes
- 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.
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. 🙂
Sarah says
I just made two blueberry blackberry pies last night with our wild blackberries which are coming out, but I love the idea for this cake topping!
Thanks,
Sarah
Ashleigh Langhein says
Oh wow! Another delicious looking recipe. Yes, this is definitely going into my list of recipe’s to try!
Sue Mosier says
I have a question about growing strawberries. I live in Virginia. We have been getting a lot of rain over the last few weeks. Prior to that we were harvesting plenty of strawberries. Now we have no flowers or strawberries. Do you have any idea what I can do to get them producing again? Thank you.
Laurie Neverman says
Unfortunately, heavy rain during the period of fruit set may wash off the pollen, leading to a lack of fruit set. Also, my friend in South Carolina said their strawberry season has finished for the year, so if you have juneberries, you may be in a similar circumstance. Juneberry type strawberries (which account for the majority of strawberry types currently in cultivation) bear a heavy crop in a shorter amount of time, and then are done for the year. Everbearing types will produce a smaller amount over a longer period of time. If you have an everbearing type, dry weather may bring back your fruit, but no flowers would lead me to believe that you have a juneberry type.
T says
Curious about your paw paws, what issues did you have with them and what do you plan to do with them? Just eat or other ideas?
Thanks
Laurie Neverman says
I figured I should see if I can get them to grow before I make any big plans for the fruit. The first two times we ordered baby trees from a different nursery, and they sent half dead sticks that failed to thrive. This time we ordered from Stark Bros and got large, healthy plants. The boys also built a different sort of shade cage this time around, because pawpaws like partial shade when they are smaller.