Berry Shortcake-Celebrating Summer

Berry Shortcake-a hat tip to the classic strawberry shortcake recipe. Still, one of my all-time traditional favorite fruit desserts.  I just love that sweet and bit of a crunch of the biscuit, delicious naturally sweet strawberries, and creamy whipped cream.  Just screams summer in your mouth.  As summer comes to an end, I thought I would give the ole strawberry and blueberry one last hat tip and make a plated dessert to honor these two awesome summer fruit berries. 

Inspiration

The inspiration behind this recipe comes from the first pastry chef I worked for right out of culinary school.  She was a great mentor and super fun to work for.  Occasionally, on the menu we would do a strawberry shortcake dessert recipe.  I have made this a little different by adding blueberries for a mixed berry shortcake version.

Dessert Components

Berry Shortcake-Biscuits

You can use your favorite biscuit recipe and step it up a notch for this dessert by adding heavy cream instead of milk to the recipe to give it that extra rich taste for a dessert biscuit, and a bit of sugar if you like.   Additionally, I brush the tops of the biscuits with cream and a sprinkle of sugar before they are baked.

You can also use pound cake or sponge cake instead of biscuits. Would be a great alternative. If you use poundcake, check out my grandmother’s delicious pound cake recipe here.

 

 

 

 

 

Ready for the oven.

Berries and Sauce

Unlike a traditional strawberry shortcake, I like to have a strawberry sauce with chunks of fresh strawberries and blueberries added that provides some extra “mop” sauce for the biscuits and just brings the whole dessert together.  The fruit also gives it some added texture, perfect with these berry shortcakes.

Berry Shortcake Recipe

Strawberry Couli

1 cup strawberries (frozen or fresh)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4-1/2 cup sugar ( 1/2 cup will give you a sweeter sauce)
1 TBS cornstarch
1 TBS water
4 whole strawberries, diced into medium chunks

In a small saucepan, place the strawberries, water, sugar, and lemon juice and bring to a boil.  Boil about 5 minutes over medium high using a fork to mass up the strawberries.  Make a slurry by combining the cornstarch and water and mix well.  Add half of this mixture to the boiling fruit and boil 1 minute.  Remove from heat and cool.  Add the sliced strawberries and blueberries, refrigerate until ready to use.

 

Whipped Cream

Fresh whipped cream gives this an added freshness and just marries so well together with the berries.  You can add a touch of powdered sugar to the cream before it is whipped to make it a hint sweeter.  Although, the dessert is pretty sweet so this is optional.

Presentation Component

To bring this whole dessert together for a fun presentation I place a little cotton candy on top with a white chocolate decoration and it makes it super fun to eat.

You can take some candy melts, melt and place them on a silpat using a brush technique or back of the spoon as shown here.  You can also do sugar decorations instead of the white chocolate.  Check out how to do those here from a recent dessert I made.

Berry Shortcakes Construction

Ok, now for the fun part, let you imagination take you away here.  I place some of the couli on the bottom of the plate and slice open several of the biscuits in half and place one on top of the sauce with some of the whipped cream.

Add some of the strawberry couli sauce on top of the whipped cream

Add a second biscuit, more whipped cream, and more strawberry couli.

Berry Shortcakes Decorations

Here is the fun part you take the components to bring this berry dessert to a grand finish:

• White Chocolate Fans
• Fresh Whipped Cream
• Blueberries
• Cotton Candy

Place the top of the biscuit on top and garnish with whipped cream, fresh fruit, cotton candy, and a white chocolate decoration.  Add a few more pieces of fresh fruit and more sauce to the bottom of the dish.

Here is the salute to summers end!  Feel free to pile high the whipped cream.

If you say to yourself, I need more sauce….. go for it, add more and let it just slide down the dessert like this. Mmmmm the more sauce the better in my humble opinion! You need more to soak up all that wonderful shortcake biscuit.

They say you eat with your eyes first, seeing this fun dessert definitely makes you hungry!

Bon Appetit!