Triple Berry Layered Shortcake
Nothing says “spring” more than berries and cream
Difficulty: Advanced | Time: 1hr (active) 4 hours (total) | Yields: 1 6” 4 layer cake
It was my Dad’s birthday… He’s not a big cake lover, but I wanted to make him a cake for his birthday! He loves strawberry shortcake, so I thought I could make that, but in layered form… And with raspberries and blueberries, too!
I have to say, this cake looks gourmet and I’m impressed with myself at how crisp the layers look. Plus, the flavors and textures were delightful— vanilla sponge, tart and bright berries, light a fluffy whipped cream.
This cake is a bit more involved, but if you’re up for it, you’ll end up with one hell of a cake!
Ingredients:
For the cake:
300g all purpose flour
11g baking powder
5g salt
50g sour cream
182mL whole milk
4oz (1 stick) of butter, softened
227g sugar
22mL vegetable oil
7mL vanilla
3 eggs
For the berry fillings:
Strawberry:
500g strawberries, diced
4Tbsp lemon juice
100g granulated sugar
1/2tsp vanilla extract
8g unflavored powdered gelatin
29mL water
Raspberry:
250g raspberries, whole
2Tbsp lemon juice
50g granulated sugar
1/4tsp vanilla extract
4g unflavored powdered gelatin
17mL water
Blueberry:
250g blueberries, whole or halved
2Tbsp lemon juice
60g granulated sugar
1/4tsp vanilla extract
4g unflavored powdered gelatin
17mL water
For the stabilized whipped cream:
687mL heavy whipping cream
78g powdered sugar
3tsp vanilla extract
12g unflavored powdered gelatin
44mL water
Directions:
Make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and pre-grease and line 2 10”x15” jelly roll tins.
In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt). Set aside.
In a separate small bowl, mix together the milk and the sour cream. Set aside.
In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in the vegetable oil until combined.
Add in the vanilla and eggs and beat until pale in color.
Alternate adding in the dry ingredients and the milk/sour cream mixture while the mixer is running on low speed. So, add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then 1/2 of the milk mixture, another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, the second 1/2 of the milk mixture, and finally, the last 1/3 of the flour mixture. Mix on low until there are no more flour streaks (dry-wet-dry-wet-dry).
Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared jelly roll tins, and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the cakes spring back to the touch.
Remove from the oven and let them cool completely to room temperate on a wire rack.
Once at room temperature, cut 2 6” circles out of each sheet cake (resulting in 4 6” round cake layers). If you don’t have a large enough round cutter, simply take a 6” cake tin and trace it with a knife to cut out the correct sized cake. Set aside.
Make the berry fillings:
In separate small bowls, combine the water and gelatin for each filling and allow the gelatin to bloom.
In separate sauce pans, add in each fruit with the sugar and lemon juice. Place each pot on medium high heat and stir.
Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat down and simmer each filling for about 10 minutes to break down the fruit.
Add the bloomed gelatin to the correct filling and stir to dissolve the gelatin in each mixture.
Remove from heat and allow to cool almost completely. You don’t want the filling to be hot when you assemble the cake, but you don’t want to let it get too cool, otherwise the gelatin will set. When the fillings are lukewarm, they are ready to use for assembly.
Make the stabilized whipped cream:
Place the bowl of your stand mixer, or a large metal bowl, in the freezer along with your whisk attachment to get nice and cold.
Meanwhile, bloom the gelatin by combining the powdered gelatin and water.
Remove the bowl and whisk from the freezer and add in your heavy cream and powdered sugar. Whisk on medium high speed until soft peaks from— when you lift your whisk out of the cream, it should flop over.
Microwave the bloomed gelatin for 10 seconds, until melted.
With your mixer on medium speed, slowly pour in the melted gelatin. Once all the gelatin has been poured in, crank your mixer up to medium high or high speed until stiff peaks form.
Transfer the whipped cream into a piping bag.
Assemble:
Line the edge of a 6“ spring form tin with acetate paper and line the bottom of the tin with parchment paper. If you don’t have acetate paper, you can just use more parchment paper or wax paper.
Place one layer of the vanilla cake at the bottom of the tin.
Pipe an even layer of whipped cream on top. Smooth it out with an offset spoon or spatula.
Pour 1/2 of the lukewarm strawberry filling over top and spread evenly or simply tilt the cake tin to get it to evenly cover the whipped cream layer.
Place another layer of cake, pipe another even layer of whipped cream and then pour all of the raspberry filling.
Place the 3rd layer of cake, another layer of whipped cream and all of the blueberry filling.
End with the final (4th) layer of cake, an even layer of whipped cream, and the remaining 1/2 of the strawberry filling.
Place in the fridge for a few hours for everything to set. You’ll know its ready once the top layer of strawberries feels set.
Remove from the fridge and transfer the cake from the spring form tin to a cake board or cake stand. Keep the acetate paper on— It will make it easier to transfer.
Once you transfer the cake, decorate it with more whipped cream piped on top and additional berries.
Remove the acetate paper and serve! Keep refrigerated.
