My husband picked some wild blackberries at his parent’s house. Right in their yard they have a blackberry bush, and down the street at a vacant house he found another bush with a ton of wild blackberries on it, ready to be picked! For all of his efforts I knew he would love a dessert. I really wanted to choose a dessert that wouldn’t take away from the berries because it isn’t everyday we get to eat wild blackberries that we picked ourselves. I thought back to a bakery that I worked at, who had a lovely strawberry shortcake. I always loved the fresh whipped cream that they served in their shortcakes, and nothing beats fruit with fresh whipped cream!
I found a recipe for the cakes in a Cooking Light magazine I have. I adapted the recipe to use whole wheat flour and raw cane sugar instead of all-purpose flour and refined sugar. One thing that I keep in mind when making desserts is the fact that no, desserts aren’t necessary and sugar itself isn’t an ingredient to over-consume. However, you can still make desserts “better” by using real ingredients that aren’t as refined. Instead of dumping a cake out of box that is filled with dangerous fats and calls for GMO oils, you can use whole ingredients and yield a product that outshines the boxed stuff times 1000. If you are already used to making from-scratch desserts, just look for recipes that use whole ingredient instead of refined (they are out there). If all else fails, just make substitutions and tweak recipes to fit your own “healthy”.
When I was reaching for my flour I accidentally grabbed the stone ground whole wheat instead of my whole wheat pastry flour. Typically I would use the whole wheat pastry flour for a recipe like this one, but I was pleasantly surprised how nice they turned out with the stone ground whole wheat flour. The cakes themselves were biscuit-like, just like a typical shortcake. They are a bit dry to begin with, but with the addition of the cream and berries they are just the right texture. I have to say, this one was really a home-run!
Obviously my husband ate all of his shortcake, but just incase you wanted the proof here it is!
The best part about these babies is they can easily be served in mason jars to make them even more awesome! If you’d like to go the mason jar route, simply bake the cake part of this recipe on a parchment lined (or buttered and floured) sheet tray. Once the cake bakes and cools, use a circular Ateco cutter or the top of your mason jar to cut circles of cake.
I layered cake, whipped cream, berries, cake, whipped cream, berries and wow! They were beautiful and delicious!
Whole Wheat Blackberry Shortcakes with Fresh Whipped Cream
By Published: July 8, 2014
- Yield: 8 large (8 Servings)
This recipe made 8 shortcakes by using 2 Tablespoons at a time. If you are using mason jars, expect to need more whipped cream!
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour stone ground or pastry
- 1/4 cup raw cane sugar I used Woodstock brand
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 Tbsp butter (chilled) and cut into chunks
- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk I just used regular milk and 1 Tbsp of lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp raw cane sugar
- 1 cup fresh blackberries Or more of any fresh fruit you'd like!
Instructions
- Combine first 5 ingredients. Cut cold butter into small chunks. Cut butter into flour, using your hands (this just means break up the butter into really small pieces). your mixture will resemble a course meal.
- Add buttermilk, stir just to combine. The batter will be wet. Put an additional 1/2 cup of flour into a shallow dish. Taking 2 Tablespoons at a time gently roll batter into flour to form a ball. Put the ball onto a lined or greased baking sheet and press to form a patty. I sprinkled a bit of additional raw sugar on top as well. Bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
- Put heavy cream and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk just until cream stands up. When your whisk starts making waves that you can see in your cream, you are close! Watch it closely as there is a very fine line between just right and over-whipped.
- To assemble, gently take a serrated knife and with one hand placed on top of cake slice through it to create a top and bottom. Layer cake with whipped cream and berries and place top back on cake.
it looks wonderful!
Those look incredible. I have to make a comment that the berries in the pictures are actually Black Raspberries, not Blackberries (you can tell by the hollow inside). I have some on a bush outside as well and have been searching for a new way to prepare them and can’t wait to try your recipe! Thanks for sharing!
I see what you mean LeeAnn, they are actually black raspberries! I guess when I saw the color I immediately thought black berries, thanks for setting it straight 🙂