Mulberry Shortcakes
Mulberry Shortcakes are an easy, amazingly delicious dessert to make for any finale, but especially on Memorial Day! While mulberries may not be the easiest berry to find, these work equally as well with strawberries (the more traditional choice), blackberries, or raspberries.
My daughter has a beautiful garden filled with so many varieties of veggies, herbs and berries. One that struck me was the mulberry tree. It reminded me of when my kids were little and we had a mulberry tree in the backyard. It was so large that in order to gather the berries, we had to place a tarp below it and shake, shake, shake! It became a game for the kids, but the result was a tarp full of ripe berries! I guess the mulberry doesn’t fall far from the tree (that was funny, you have to admit)! Ha!
In any event, on Mother’s Day, Haley made me a wonderful brunch and then we went to shake, shake, shake her tree. Luckily for us, it wasn’t so grown that we couldn’t just reach the berries. They were ripe and easily dropped off the tree. They couldn’t have been sweeter, just like Haley!
As a tribute to my lovely daughter, I decided to bake these shortcakes and use her amazing mulberries. The results speak for themselves!
The recipe for the shortcakes comes from Smitten Kitchen who simplified the traditional recipe by not using cooked egg yolks and using raw yolks, thereby eliminating a 15-minute step. The egg yolks give these shortcakes a nice yellow hue to them.
The dry ingredients get mixed together (flour, baking soda & powder, sugar, and salt) and then the butter gets worked in with either your fingers or a pastry cutter (I used the cutter and finished with my fingers) until pea-size butter portions remain.
The yolks get combined with the heavy cream which then gets mixed into the flour/butter mixture. That’s your batter.
The batter gets divided up and rolled into balls and dipped in the coarse sugar. I liked the suggestion to not roll the “bottom” of the dough in the sugar as it can burn prior to the shortcakes being fully baked. Good idea!
Bake these bad boys and then set them aside to cool.
While they are cooling, add some sugar and lemon juice to the berries. The amount of sugar will vary depending on how sweet the berries are. You won’t get a lot of juice if you use whole berries, but if you cut up strawberries, for example, they will macerate and create a nice syrup that will be soaked up by the shortcakes.
You will also want to whip the cream. You can add some sugar to the cream, if desired. I didn’t bother since the mulberries were so sweet already.
To assemble, carefully cut the shortcakes in half, layer the berries and whipped cream over the bottom half and then top with the lid.
So delicious and elegant!
Share Your Thoughts…
Lastly, if you make Mulberry Shortcakes, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is one of my favorite things to do!
Mulberry Shortcakes
Makes: 6-8 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 & 1/4 cups (295 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 & 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 3 tbsp (40 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp fine sea or table salt
- 6 tbsp (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cold, cut into chunks
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 3 tbsp raw or turbinado sugar
- 1 pound mulberries, strawberries or mixed berries, hulled and halved if large
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar, or more to taste
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (optional)
- 1 cup heavy or whipping cream
Make Shortcakes:
Heat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, granulated sugar, and salt until thoroughly combined. Add butter and using your fingertips or a pastry blender, break it into small bits (the largest should be no bigger than a small pea).
In a small bowl, whisk yolks with a splash of cream, then pour rest of cream in and whisk to combine. Pour into butter-flour mixture and use a rubber spatula to mix and mash it together into one cohesive dough.
Divide dough into 6 (for large, 3 1/2 to 3 3/4-inch wide and up to 2-inch tall) shortcakes or 8 smaller ones. I do this by pressing the dough somewhat flat into the bottom of the bowl (to form a circle) and using a knife to divide it into pie-like wedges. Place raw or turbinado sugar in a small bowl. Roll each wedge of shortcake into a ball in your hands and roll it through the raw/turbinado sugar, coating it in all but a small area that you should leave bare. (I found that the sugar underneath the shortcakes would burn, so better to leave it off.)
Place it, bare spot down, on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining wedges of dough. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly golden all over. Let cool completely on tray or on a cooling rack.
While cooling, mix berries, 2 tablespoons sugar (more or less to taste), and lemon juice, if desired, in a bowl and let macerate so that the juices run out.
In a larger bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar to taste, or leave unsweetened, if that’s your preference.
To serve, carefully split each cooled shortcake with a serrated knife. Spoon berries and their juices over bottom half. Heap generously with whipped cream. Place shortcake “lid” on top. Eat immediately and don’t forget to share.
Do Ahead:
Shortcakes keep well for a day at room temperature. I prefer to keep them uncovered. I found on the second day, they were a little more firm but not half-bad, but they’re definitely “best” on day one.
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
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