You're going to love this sourdough berry sheet pan shortcake. A tender crumb biscuit base, bejewelled with strawberries and blueberries, forms the shortcake underneath. This is topped with piles of whipped cream and summer berries, forming the white, red and blue color scheme.
Perfect for any occasion, this sourdough berry sheet pan shortcake is especially good for 4th July celebrations when red, white and blue decorations are needed.
If you love this sourdough shortcake recipe, you might also enjoy these sourdough strawberry shortcakes, sourdough strawberry rolls or these sourdough blueberry brioche tarts - all perfect for serving alongside this sourdough recipe for 4th July.
Why You'll Love This Recipe!
Minimal Effort for Big Results - This sourdough shortcake recipe is so easy to pull together. But for minimal effort you get a stunning result!
Can Adapt for the Seasons - While I've used gorgeous summer berries to top this sourdough berry sheet pan shortcake, you can use whatever is in season to top yours!
Perfect To Feed A Crowd - This is the perfect centrepiece to feed a crowd! Each little "shortcake" can be pulled off to form a piece so it feeds a minimum of 15, but can be made to feed even more if you make smaller dough balls.
How To Make Sourdough Berry Sheet Pan Shortcake
Making this sourdough berry shortcake is a pretty easy process. Now you could of course make a batch of flaky sourdough biscuits and top them with cream and berries, or even make these sourdough strawberry shortcakes. But I love that this shortcake dough is actually scoopable and so not fussy!
Preheat your oven to 200C (400F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set this aside.
Before you start, ensure you have these things done and set aside:
- Chop the berries for the shortcake dough (I diced the strawberries but left the blueberries whole).
- Grate the butter and put in the freezer until you need it.
- Mix the buttermilk, heavy cream, vanilla extract and sourdough starter together in a jug.
Now in a large mixing bowl, add together the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Stir together until well combined.
Now put the cold, grated butter into the flour mixture and rub it into the flour. You won't need to rub it a lot because the butter is grated, so as long as it's well distributed and coated in flour it will be fine.
Now, pour the buttermilk mixture (wet ingredients) and the chopped berries into the dry ingredients and stir together to form a firm, wet dough. It should be "scoopable".
Now take the tray you prepared earlier and a cookie scoop and scoop 15 balls of dough. Arrange them in a 3 x 5 formation on the tray. They should be touching.
Brush the dough balls with melted butter and sprinkle with the raw sugar.
Bake the sourdough berry shortcake in the oven at 200C (400F) for 30 minutes. Once they are golden brown and baked through, remove from the oven and allow to cool. While the shortcake is cooling, prepare the toppings.
Whip the heavy cream and vanilla extract together until soft peaks form. You can add some powdered sugar to the cream if you prefer, but the shortcakes already have quite a bit of sugar.
Once the sourdough berry shortcake is cool, carefully transfer it to a serving platter. Top with the whipped cream and arrange the berries on top.
How To Make This Sourdough Berry Sheet Pan Shortcake Ahead of Time
This sourdough berry sheet pan shortcake is the perfect recipe to make ahead for a special occasion. You can easily make the biscuit base up to 24 hours ahead and set aside (covered at room temperature). When baking the biscuit shortcake base, you can also whip the cream and prepare the berries and store in the fridge.
Add the whipped cream and berries once you are ready to serve.
While you can top this ahead of time, once the cream is on, it does need to be stored in the fridge which can change the texture of the sourdough berry shortcake a little so I do recommend not topping it until you are ready to serve.
Flavor Variations and Topping Ideas
Red and blue berries are perfect for decorating this sourdough berry shortcake in the summer months and especially for a 4th July sourdough celebration.
But if you're looking for something a little different, then why not try some of the ideas below. If you can't get fresh fruit, you can also used canned fruit to top the cake. Make sure you drain it well so it doesn't collapse too much into the cream.
- Peach Cobbler Sourdough Shortcake - top this gorgeous sourdough sheet pan shortcake with fresh peaches, sliced and sprinkled with a little sugar to bring out their sweetness. A few mint leaves and job done! Drained, canned peaches also work well.
- Kiwi Fruit, Strawberries & Passionfruit - this combination is lovely for a Christmas time celebration.
- Cherry Ripe - if you can't get fresh cherries, canned cherries are a lovely addition to this. I love grating some chocolate over the top too!
- Chocolate Delight - if fruit isn't your thing, then you could try adding 200g of chocolate chips to the shortcake dough and then topping it with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and grated chocolate one cooled.
How To Store + Freeze
This sourdough dessert is best eaten as soon as it is topped with vanilla whipped cream and berries. Once topped with cream, it can be stored covered in the fridge for up to 2 days, but the texture of the shortcake underneath will change in the fridge. It's still fine to eat, but it won't be as tender as when you first baked it.
This delicious sourdough berry sheet pan shortcake is not suitable to freeze.
Sourdough Berry Sheet Pan Shortcake
Equipment
- Sheet Pan
Ingredients
Shortcake Dough
- 400 g All Purpose Flour
- 12 g Baking Powder
- 6 g Baking Soda
- 6 g Salt
- 110 g Sugar
- 60 g Butter (grated and frozen) - I've used salted butter
- 300 g Buttermilk (see notes for alternative)
- 100 g Heavy Cream
- 10 g Vanilla Extract
- 200 g Sourdough Starter (or sourdough starter discard)
- 200 g Berries (strawberries & blueberries chopped)
- 20 g Butter (melted)
- 50 g Raw Sugar
Topping
- 600 g Heavy Cream
- 5 g Vanilla Extract
- 125 g Blueberries
- 125 g Blackberries
- 200 g Cherries
- 250 g Strawberries
- 125 g Raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200C (400F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set this aside.
- Before you start, ensure you have these things done and set aside:Chop the berries for the shortcake dough (I diced the strawberries but left the blueberries whole). Grate the butter and put in the freezer until you need it.Mix the buttermilk, heavy cream, vanilla extract and sourdough starter together in a jug.
- Now in a large mixing bowl, add together the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Stir together until well combined.
- Now put the cold, grated butter into the flour mixture and rub it into the flour. You won't need to rub it a lot because the butter is grated, so as long as it's well distributed and coated in flour it will be fine.
- Now, pour the buttermilk mixture (wet ingredients) and the chopped berries into the dry ingredients and stir together to form a firm, wet dough. It should be "scoopable".
- Now take the tray you prepared earlier and a cookie scoop and scoop 15 balls of dough. Arrange them in a 3 x 5 formation on the tray. They should be touching.
- Brush the dough balls with melted butter and sprinkle with the raw sugar.
- Bake the sourdough berry shortcake in the oven at 200C (400F) for 30 minutes. Once they are golden brown and baked through, remove from the oven and allow to cool. While the shortcake is cooling, prepare the toppings.
- Whip the heavy cream and vanilla extract together until soft peaks form. You can add some powdered sugar to the cream if you prefer, but the shortcakes already have quite a bit of sugar.
- Once the sourdough berry shortcake is cool, carefully transfer it to a serving platter. Top with the whipped cream and arrange the berries on top.
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