Saturday, April 11, 2015

It's Shortcake Season - Low Carb Blueberry Shortcake & Strawberry Shortcake

It was a beautiful bright and sunny day here today which was welcomed after yesterday's nasty stormy weather. A number of you have asked for my Strawberry Shortcake recipe that I made for dessert on Easter. While I already had it written out, I wanted to make it one more time and tweak it just a little. I wanted it to be the right texture for a shortcake that's going to soak up berry juice and whipped cream. I didn't want it to be too dry or too moist. So, I made it again today with a couple of minor modifications. I also made a Blueberry Shortcake version today...and I must say, I didn't know what I was missing! I don't believe I've ever just made a Blueberry Shortcake before but I think I liked it better than Strawberry Shortcake!

When I made the Strawberry Shortcake last week, I lightly sweetened sliced fresh strawberries and let them sit in the fridge until assembly and serving time. When I made today's Blueberry Shortcake, I didn't add any sweetener to the blueberries. I simply split my mini shortcakes in half and placed the bottom half on a plate, topped it with lightly sweetened whipped cream, scattered fresh blueberries on top; placed the top half on and added more whipped cream and few more blueberries. It was awesome! You could make it with raspberries, blackberries or a mixture of a variety of berries...whatever you have on hand or is your favorite. You could mash a few berries, too, if you wanted to make a little juice to drizzle on top. I snapped a photo of this evening's Blueberry Shortcake along with a photo of last week's Strawberry Shortcake. I used my USA Pan 6-well mini cake pan to make these and they make the perfect size shortcakes. If you wanted to make a smaller dessert, just make a single layer using half of a mini-cake and top with berries and whipped cream rather than making a double decker. The recipe for the shortcake is below as well as a few yard pics. Enjoy!




Azaleas are blooming...it finally looks like spring
Viburnum is one of my favorite spring shrubs
The hostas are poking out of the ground

Fresh Berry Shortcake

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted blanched almond flour

2/3 cup granular or confectioners Swerve sweetener (I used confectioners)
1/4 cup plain unsweetened whey protein powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs 
6 tablespoons melted butter   
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 teaspoons NuStevia Simple Syrup (or additional stevia, to taste)
Fresh strawberries, blueberries or other berries
Whipped Cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 6-well mini cake pan with butter or coconut oil and set aside.  


In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, granular or powdered sweetener, whey protein powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.


In a separate bowl, beat eggs, butter, vanilla, buttermilk and stevia together. Add liquid mixture to dry mixture and stir just until combined. Beat for 2 minutes with a hand mixer at medium-high speed until light and smooth.  


Divide batter evenly among 6 cake wells. Bake for 23-25 minutes until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes; invert onto a wire rack and let cool completely. Slice in half crosswise and top bottom half with berries and whipped cream; place remaining half on top and add additional whipped cream and berries.


*Note: Cakes can also be cut in half and frosted or glazed as desired. 


            

14 comments:

Alice said...

What a glorious dessert! Another GGC original I can't wait to try!

Thank you for all your work and tinkering to make perfect. All your efforts are so very much appreciated!

It does feel so good to have plants awakening and Spring coming on. Thank you for sharing your pictures!

Hope you have a great Sunday!

Alice B.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks Alice! I know berry season is just around the corner so figured I'd get a head start on ways to enjoy them! ;-) I hope your Sunday is great, too.

Charlotte Moore said...

Yum, this looks delicious. Seems say enough too. My favorite would be strawberry or peach. Love those fruits. Thank you for sharing. I am sure the one I make GF free recipes for will love this.

Anonymous said...

bring on the cranberries!

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

Do I ever love strawberry shortcake ... what an awesome dessert you've created here! Will have to try the blueberry, as well, especially since it comes so highly recommended. :-) Lots of whipped cream, too ... love it!

Thanks for your springtime pix ... they give me hope! Around here, the grass really greened up following the torrential rains we had the other night. My irises are poking up, but they poked through the winter snow, too, so I really don't count them as a "sign of spring." I can see daffodil leaves, though, and the willow twigs and branches are turning bright yellow. Guess spring just might make an appearance after all!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis,

We have had such odd weather here this spring that has ranged from unseasonably cold to unseasonably hot temps and then some violent thunderstorms thrown in as well. We are expecting rain again this week (unless the forecast changes again). One thing that signals spring has arrived is the obscene pollen counts we're having...over 6,100 one day. If it wasn't for the frequent heavy rains I can't imagine what it might be. I've been sneezing my head off this evening after just brief exposure outside today.

Maybe spring will surprise you here very soon. I used to have lots of irises when I lived back in Maryland. I probably had 25+ varieties that I got from a place called Schreiners (spelling)? I used to order from their catalog. I haven't had any for years and miss them. I had all kinds of fancy bearded iris in all kinds of beautiful shades and colors. The dirt here is just too hard to dig in (red clay) and makes planting not as fun. I thought digging was difficult up north but it's nothing like the packed hard clay dirt here. :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Charlotte,

Oh...peaches and strawberries are good. They might even be good mixed together!

I hope your GF friends and family enjoy it. :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

LOL Anonymous,

Yes...I may just have to "bring on the cranberries"...Lord knows I have enough of them socked away in my freezer! ;-)

Gerri said...

I've actually used your southern buttermilk biscuits to make short cakes and they are delicious!










Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Gerri,

Great idea for using them. So happy you are enjoying the buttermilk biscuits. :-)

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

I've used your buttermilk biscuits for shortcake, too ... yummy! I'm going to try this recipe, though. I still have a small bag of Robb's vanilla whey powder (sweetened with stevia) that I can't seem to use up! Maybe I'll make 1/2 a recipe using that and reduce the other sweeteners and see what happens. :-)

I love all the other fruity ideas for shortcake! For some reason, peaches and blueberries together seems to strike a chord.

Wow, you sure had the irises! How beautiful! We have clay-type soil, too. But years ago someone dug that all out of a couple small flowerbeds and replaced it with regular garden soil. I have hostas and coral bells in those and I plant some annuals in the spring. There are a few other places around the yard where I'd like to plant flowers, but as you know, trying to dig up clay is no fun. I've tried a couple of things here and there, and the plants just do not do well. We made it above 70 degrees today but it'll be getting cooler again. Supposed to be sunny for a few days so that'll be nice. That's my favorite weather, though ... cool air with pleasantly warm sunshine! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis,

Lucky you having a bed with garden soil instead of clay. It makes all the difference in the world, doesn't it?

I would love to plant tulips, daffodils, etc. but it's just way too hard to dig deep enough holes in our packed clay soil.

Lucky you with warmer temps. Today (Tuesday) is our warmest day supposed to be near 80 and then, believe it or not, here we go again with a high of only 59 predicted for Thursday. We still keep swinging from one extreme to the other. Rain is in our forecast most of the week but things are really greening up here with the rain. Enjoy your warm weather. :-)

Christine said...

Hi, GG. I'm a big fan of your recipes. I am geared up and ready to make this one. Could you please tell me what the purpose of the whey powder is? My daughter only eats goats' milk, so I'm going to substitute goats' milk yoghurt and milk for the buttermilk (or maybe add some lemon juice or vinegar to milk) but the whey powder has me stumped. Thanks! - Christine

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Christine,

Thank you! It's there (the whey protein) more for texture. You should be able to substitute 2 to 3 tablespoons coconut flour instead. You might want to try 2 first because it can be drying. Hope that helps! :-)