Black Raspberry Shortcake

Black Raspberry Shortcake

Black-raspberries

Look what showed up at the door the other day. A neighbour dropped by with black raspberries picked from her garden. They were tart, firm, full of flavour and very, very black. See…

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They also stained everything they came in contact with. Including me. Despite their black exterior, the juice ran quite red.

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This delicious gift left me with two problems on my berry-stained hands. One: How to shoot these black beauties in a way that showed them off without ruining my clothes (I am a bit of a slob). Two: What dish should I create to honour them justly?

So, I turned to Facebook for suggestions. I was told to:

  • Eat them by the handful, which I did throughout the photo shoot
  • Sprinkle them on vanilla ice cream
  • Stir them into vanilla yogurt
  • Reduce them in wine and ladle the resulting sauce over pork.

All stellar suggestions. In the end, I made a dish that didn’t require a trip to the store or a lot of prep time. Shortcake.

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Berries, whipped cream and a tarted up scone. Who could ask for more?

Okay, next time I sugar the berries and add a splash of raspberry liqueur to make a sauce that will soak into the cake, but this was all about the berries.

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Any shortcake fans out there? What’s your favourite? Or do you have other black raspberry suggestions for the next time someone drops by with a pint?

Shortcake
Printable recipe

Makes 12

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup white sugar (or vanilla sugar if you have it)
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup cold butter
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • milk
  • extra sugar

Toppings

  • Sliced fruit in its own juices, with a bit of sugar or liqueur added as needed
  • Whipped cream

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425F.
  2. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda together until well blended.
  3. Cut in cold butter with a pastry knife until the mixture is dry and crumbly.
  4. Add vanilla to the buttermilk and pour over the flour mixture.
  5. Blend quickly, kneading with your hands if necessary, to form a ball of dough.
  6. Roll on a floured board to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds.
  7. Brush shortcake tops with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
  8. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
  9. Split the shortcake in half horizontally.
  10. Spoon fruit with juices over the bottom half of the shortbread. Add a generous dollop of whipped cream before covering with the top of shortbread. Add more whipped cream and fruit.

No Comments
  • Cheryl Arkison
    Posted at 10:34h, 21 July

    I've made strawberry shortcake a few times in the past two weeks. Personally, I prefer it with a cake, like the lemon butter cake from April 2009 Gourmet, over a scone or bisquit.

    And it proved that I am not food stylist. I tried to take a picture of my ridiculously good shortcake with thick cream and macerated berries. Is there any way to make it look pretty? But who care, it tasted damn good!

  • Cheryl Arkison
    Posted at 10:34h, 21 July

    I've made strawberry shortcake a few times in the past two weeks. Personally, I prefer it with a cake, like the lemon butter cake from April 2009 Gourmet, over a scone or bisquit.

    And it proved that I am not food stylist. I tried to take a picture of my ridiculously good shortcake with thick cream and macerated berries. Is there any way to make it look pretty? But who care, it tasted damn good!

  • Marta
    Posted at 10:42h, 21 July

    Great way to use them! Quick, simple and perfect for summer.
    Black raspberries, eh? Never heard of them… I love finding out about cool new ingredients!
    And I want neighbours like yours!

  • Nancy Baggett
    Posted at 10:53h, 21 July

    I love, love, love wild black raspberries and blackberries and have been picking them my whole life. Your pics make me hungry. I was eating some black raspberries sundaes in June, but now they are gone and I'm on to blackberry sundaes. You can see 'em (and pics of canes in bloom) on my blog http://kitchenlane.blogspot.com (also wrote about Niagara-on-the-Lake–just gorgeous!)
    P.S. I, too, like my shortcakes the old-fashioned way, with biscuit, not cake.

  • Julie
    Posted at 12:37h, 21 July

    THAT LOOKS FANTASTIC! I adore sweet biscuits or scones loaded with fruit and cream. May give it a try with thickly sliced peaches, too. Yum.

  • tastestopping
    Posted at 12:45h, 21 July

    I am a biscuit-only shortcake lover. As you said, however, I do need some juice to soak into the biscuit, with the perfect amount of cream and fruit in each bite along with it. It's truly a science, creating the perfect shortcake. Yours looks beautiful.

    Anyway, I found you through TasteSpotting and am writing to personally invite you to visit my new site (below), where I publish all of the food photos that aren't accepted at TS. Itโ€™s a lot of fun! I hope you will swing by.

    Best,
    Casey
    Editor
    http://www.tastestopping.wordpress.com

  • Ruth Daniels
    Posted at 13:34h, 21 July

    Stunning photos. I think my white shirt got stains just from looking at the screen.

  • Cheryl Sternman Rule
    Posted at 14:46h, 21 July

    That first photo is stunning. STUNNING. You certainly figured out how to photograph black raspberries.

    And I love that plug from the Tastestopping woman. I think I'm going to start a site called Christie's Corners… you wouldn't mind, would you?

  • danamccauley
    Posted at 15:44h, 21 July

    Mmm! I wish I could have taken a bite into that dessert. It looks perfect. Raspberries are my very fav.

    I made strawberry shortcakes on the July long weekend when we had visitors from Mexico. I used a toasted oat scone as my shortcake base. It was pretty delicious if I do say so.

  • The Diva on a Diet
    Posted at 15:51h, 21 July

    Love shortcake and while strawberries are fine, I think I like your black raspberry version even better! I adore black raspberries. They grew wild in the woods near my childhood home and we used to pick those bushes clean and eat them by the handfuls. Seeing your magenta hands really takes me back. ๐Ÿ™‚

  • The Diva on a Diet
    Posted at 15:51h, 21 July

    Love shortcake and while strawberries are fine, I think I like your black raspberry version even better! I adore black raspberries. They grew wild in the woods near my childhood home and we used to pick those bushes clean and eat them by the handfuls. Seeing your magenta hands really takes me back. ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Katerina
    Posted at 19:04h, 21 July

    Yum! I have never heard of black raspberries before.

  • Christie's Corner
    Posted at 19:52h, 21 July

    Cheryl A, lemon butter cake? Sounds wonderful.

    Marta, I was very surprised when Elizabeth showed up with a whole basket of the berries. I have wonderful neighbours!!

    Nancy, I grew up on the biscuit style shortcake, too. But I won't turn down Cheryl A's lemon butter cake!

    Julie, peaches, strawberries, raspberries… anything fruit works for me if there's whipped cream!

    Casey, interesting the number of biscuit lovers here. I dropped by Tastestopping (clever name) and had a good laugh. Suddenly I don't feel so bad when I can't get the right shot.

    Ruth, you win best line of the day.

    Cheryl, high praise indeed from a woman who takes some of the best food photos going.

    Dana, your toasted oat scone variation is intriguing. I'm into oats and think that would be the ideal biscuit for a rhubarb shortcake…

    Diva, my hands and face were a mess by the time I was finished. I was just too embarrassed to photograph my berry-streaked cakehole ๐Ÿ™‚

    Katerina, maybe black raspberries are an Ontario / Eastern State thing? These taste like raspberries, perhaps a little more on the blackberry side of the fruit spectrum, but I can't tell how much of this is my brain dictating to my tastebuds. Either way, they're delicious.

  • amyproulx
    Posted at 23:14h, 21 July

    We had black raspberries in Iowa, they grew wild all over everywhere. So it's not just an eastern thing. We picked some in the woods today, but this time in Ontario.