Mom’s Very Best Shortcake

As I write this, we are in high summer and the berries are in their peak season. My mom’s very best shortcake is my favorite way to serve them, lightly sweetened and topped with whipped cream, ice cream, etc. Our garden is also in full production and it seems like almost every day I’m loading up the canner or dehydrator or prepping something for the freezer. Yesterday, I made and froze enough filling for two peach pies. The whole time I was working I was thinking how great they’ll taste when there’s snow on the ground and the winter wind is howling outside my door.

I can think of no finer way to enjoy fresh strawberries, raspberries or other berries than served over my mom’s very best shortcake. (With ice cream or half-and-half of course.) Now, there seem to be a lot of strong opinions on what constitutes a proper shortcake. Some folks prefer to use slices of angel food cake; others use the sponge-cake shells the grocery store stocks right next to the strawberries. Still others use a sort of sweetened biscuit concoction that I’ve never been clear about. How can a biscuit be a cake? I guess it’s open to interpretation.

About this Cake

My mom almost always made this cake, a simple, slightly coarse cake with a couple of twists that add up to the perfect cake to highlight the luscious berries, IMHO. First off, there’s a bit more sugar than you usually see in a cake of this type. The sugar will slightly caramelize on top of the shortcake, giving it a little bit of a crunch. The second is a double shot of vanilla (two versus the normal one teaspoon) that perfumes the cake and emphasizes the flavor of the berries.

If you ask my siblings, THIS is the shortcake they remember, though there was another recipe she sometimes made that I’ll share later. It’s from an old, old, old recipe – at least from the 1950s and maybe even before – called Kitchenette Cupcakes. In that era, as people began to move to the urban areas, small apartments became common. They often featured a ‘kitchenette’ that had a tiny three-burner stove and oven, a small refrigerator, and not much room for storage. I guess the theory is that this cake could easily be made with just the minimal tools and ingredients found in such a small space.

How to Make Mom’s Very Best Shortcake, a.k.a. Kitchenette Cupcakes

This goes together very quickly, so you can have a nice, warm shortcake in less than an hour. Preheat the oven to 375° and spray an 8×8 baking pan with cooking spray. Set it aside.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Chunk in the shortening and use your electric mixer on low speed to cut it in until it looks like sand. A few larger lumps are fine. The shortening might cling to the mixer blades at first, but as you mix it will fly off and incorporate.

I use my one-cup liquid measure to combine the milk, egg and vanilla, then add it all at once to the flour mixture. Use your electric mixer on medium speed to blend the batter – the flour should be fully blended in. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula if needed.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan, smoothing the top, and bake for about 30 minutes. You should see the edges of the cake pulling away from the sides of the pan a little bit, and the top of the cake should be golden and spring back if you touch it lightly.

Let it cool for at least 10 minutes before you cut it. You can use almost any kind of berry that you’ve cleaned, sliced if needed, and lightly sugared. Our family always drizzled half-and-half over the cake and berries, but whipped cream, ice cream or frozen yogurt are delightful too. From my family to yours – enjoy!

Print