This high altitude tested, one layer mixed berry shortcake cake is the perfect simple but stunning dessert for spring and summer. It features a single layer of soft vanilla cake, topped with fluffy whipped cream and a lightly sweetened mixed berry compote made with blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.
You might also love this strawberry shortcake layer cake, chiffon cake with blueberry whipped cream, and bourbon peach sugar cookie shortcakes.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Make Ahead, Assemble Later. You can make each component of this one layer berry shortcake cake a day or so in advance. Then, when you’re ready to serve dessert, you can quickly assemble it for a beautiful presentation.
Simple but Delicious Flavors. There’s truly few desserts that I love as much as a simple cake with whipped cream and fruit. This mixed berry shortcake also makes a lovely summer dessert for 4th of July with its red, white and blue colors.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Berry Compote
The compote uses both fresh and frozen berries. The reason for this is that when frozen berries are thawed, they break down very easily, becoming quite soft and liquidy, which makes a nice base for the compote. Then when you add fresh berries to the hot sauce, the fresh berries are only very slightly cooked, but they keep their shape, so you have a lovely compote with plenty of juicy, plump berries throughout.
- Berries. You’ll need both fresh and frozen berries, a mix of blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. I usually keep a few bags of frozen berries on hand, and Target carries a mixture of these three berries in one bag, which was ideal for today’s mixed berry shortcake cake.
- Granulated Sugar. Sweetens the berries and helps to draw out their moisture.
Vanilla Cake
The vanilla cake is 1/2 of my popular vanilla cake recipe, which is a wonderful base cake for so many desserts.
- Cake Flour. This gives the cake structure and strength. Cake flour has a lower percentage of protein than all purpose flour, keeping the cake softer, lighter and fluffier.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar adds sweetness and moisture.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, so the cake rises as it bakes.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances flavors.
- Eggs. You’ll need a whole egg, plus an extra egg white, both of which give the cake moisture and strength.
- Buttermilk. Adds moisture and acidity for a tender cake crumb. If you don’t have buttermilk, and easy substitution is lemon juice and milk.
- Butter + Oil. Adds flavor and moisture.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
Whipped Cream
- Stabilized Whipped Cream. A simple addition of cold cream cheese to the whipped cream keeps it fluffy and stable so that it doesn’t deflate, even when made in advance.
Instructions
Berry Compote
- In a saucepan, combine the frozen berries with the sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes, until the fruit is very soft, and some of the liquid has evaporated.
- Remove from the heat, and immediately stir in the fresh berries. Let cool and chill completely before serving with the cake.
- You can make the sauce up to 2 days in advance, keeping it stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator until needed. This recipe makes a generous amount of compote. If you have any leftover, you can eat it with yogurt and granola, or spoon it over oatmeal.
Vanilla Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray the bottom of an 8-inch round cake pan with non-stick baking spray, or line with a circle of parchment paper. You can also use a 9-inch pan, but your finished cake will be a little thinner, and will need 5-10 less minutes to bake.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, egg white, buttermilk, melted butter, oil and vanilla.
- TIP: If you don’t have buttermilk, juice a small lemon into a liquid measuring cup. You should get about 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Then add whole milk, up to the 3/4 cup line. Stir the lemon juice and milk together until thick and curdled, and add to the wet ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk just until combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched, and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, and cool completely before assembling with the cream and fruit sauce.
- You can bake the cake up to 1 day in advance. When the cake is warm, turn it out of the pan, wrap it in plastic wrap, and keep it at room temperature until ready to assemble your cake.
Whipped Cream
- Make 1 recipe Stabilized Whipped Cream.
- You can make the cream 1 day in advance, keeping it refrigerated in an airtight container until needed.
Assembly and Serving
- You can serve the cake, cream and fruit sauce separately, or assemble it as shown in the photos. Keep in mind that once the sauce is spooned over the cream, the leftover cake does not keep well, so only do this if you plan on the whole cake being served and eaten in one sitting.
- Pile the whipped cream on top of the cake and spread it out to the edges. Just before serving (and not a minute sooner), spoon some of the berry compote on top of the whipped cream, and serve the rest on the side.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Keep the cake, whipped cream and fruit compote separate, until ready to serve.
The cake can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept at room temperature for up to 1 day, or frozen for up to 3-6 months.
The whipped cream can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 day in advance.
The fruit compote can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 2 days in advance.
When frozen berries are thawed, they break down very easily, becoming quite soft and liquidy, which makes a nice base for the compote. Then when you add fresh berries to the hot sauce, the fresh berries are only very slightly cooked, but they keep their shape, so you have a lovely sauce with plenty of juicy, plump berries throughout.
Once the sauce is spooned over the cream, the leftover cake does not keep well, so only do this if you plan on the whole cake being served and eaten in one sitting. Otherwise, serve each component separately.
Since this compote doesn’t contain a thickening ingredient (like corn starch), it’s not a thick, congealed sauce like pie filling. But if your compote is too runny or watery, then you may have needed to simmer the frozen fruit for a few minutes longer, before adding the fresh berries. To fix this after the fact, you can just stir in some jam or preserves in a complementary flavor. The pectin in the jam will give the sauce more body and help to thicken it a little.
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High Altitude One Layer Mixed Berry Shortcake Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- 8-inch round cake pan
Ingredients
Berry Compote
- 6 oz frozen raspberries
- 6 oz frozen blackberries
- 6 oz frozen blueberries
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 oz fresh raspberries
- 3 oz fresh blackberries
- 3 oz fresh blueberries
Vanilla Cake
- 1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg white, room temperature
- ¾ cup buttermilk (or substitute whole milk + lemon juice)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
Whipped Cream
- 1 recipe Stabilized Whipped Cream
Instructions
Berry Compote
- In a saucepan, combine the frozen berries with the sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes, until the fruit is very soft, and some of the liquid has evaporated.
- Remove from the heat, and immediately stir in the fresh berries. Let cool and chill completely before serving with the cake.
- You can make the sauce up to 2 days in advance, keeping it stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator until needed. This recipe makes a generous amount of compote. If you have any leftover, you can eat it with yogurt and granola, or spoon it over oatmeal.
Vanilla Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray the bottom of an 8-inch round cake pan with non-stick baking spray, or line with a circle of parchment paper. You can also use a 9-inch pan, but your finished cake will be a little thinner, and will need 5-10 less minutes to bake.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, egg white, buttermilk, melted butter, oil and vanilla.TIP: If you don't have buttermilk, juice a small lemon into a liquid measuring cup. You should get about 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Then add whole milk, up to the 3/4 cup line. Stir the lemon juice and milk together until thick and curdled, and add to the wet ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk just until combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched, and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, and cool completely before assembling with the cream and fruit sauce.
- You can bake the cake up to 1 day in advance. When the cake is warm, turn it out of the pan, wrap it in plastic wrap, and keep it at room temperature until ready to assemble your cake.
Whipped Cream
- Make 1 recipe Stabilized Whipped Cream.
- You can make the cream 1 day in advance, keeping it refrigerated in an airtight container until needed. If you make this in advance, it may deflate slightly when you stir it up, so just re-whip it for a minute or two to thicken it again.
Assembly and Serving
- You can serve the cake, cream and fruit sauce separately, or assemble it as shown in the photos. Keep in mind that once the sauce is spooned over the cream, the leftover cake does not keep well, so only do this if you plan on the whole cake being served and eaten in one sitting.
- Pile the whipped cream on top of the cake and spread it out to the edges. Just before serving (and not a minute sooner), spoon some of the berry compote on top of the whipped cream, and serve the rest on the side.
Notes
- The cake can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept at room temperature for up to 1 day, or frozen for up to 3-6 months.
- The whipped cream can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 day in advance.
- The fruit compote can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 2 days in advance.
Love your recipes. When I moved from the east coast to Utah, I had no clue why my baked goods had issues. Thanks for your instructions.
This cake is to die for!! My family loved it and my mother in law ate every crumb!! It was flavorful and light and baked perfectly. Thank you!
Definitely one of our favorites for summer 🙂