WINTER IS COMING….
And this simple wintry dessert will have you in comfort food heaven.
How do you feel about layers of crème patissiere, blueberries, and shortcake? I feel good about them. Let me tell you about the evolution of the Layered Blueberry Crumble Shortcake.
For the past three years I have gone on a yacht race from Melbourne to Queenscliff, a tiny old town at the southern end of Port Phillip Bay. Queenscliff Yacht Club lives on a little sand island just off the mainland, in a little place called Paradise. There’s a long thin dock where the yachts tie up, a wetland full of birds, and a whole lot of rustic peaceful. As the race is in June, and we all have to contribute some food, it’s the perfect time to offer to bring a fruit crumble. The challenge is, though, to make something which is easy to carry and serve (so not too wet) but also lovely and moist so that if you forget to bring cream to serve it with, it’s still delicious.
The answer to moistness is lots of lovely fruit… My preference is berries… blueberries, mixed berries, strawberries… because they have a wonderfully rich flavour but peaches and red currants or feijoa and apple would work too. My Blueberry Crumble Shortcake has a layer of blueberry pie filling, and also a crumble layer with whole blueberries. You can never have too many blueberries. But fruit crumble is not really complete without custard, therefore I’ve added a judicious layer of crème patissiere.
Speaking of layers – they are the secret to portability! With You can serve it like cake, and when it’s cool it’s solid enough to actually hold a piece in your hand. Any leftovers sit happily in the tin without oozing their filling. I’ve done a few iterations over the years and am happy to now share the results!
Layered Blueberry Crumble Shortcake
makes a 25cm square cake
Lemon Shortcake
ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
250g butter, cold, cubed
1 egg zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
mixing
Place the sugar, flour and baking powder into a food processor and add the cubed butter. Process until fine crumbs form (you can also do this by hand, rubbing the butter into the flour as you would to make scones). Add the egg, lemon zest and vanilla, and process (or mix with a wooden spoon) until the mixture starts to clump together. Divide the mixture into thirds.
Lemon Shortcake mixture
Blueberry Pie filling
ingredients
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp cornflour
1/3 cup water
2 cups frozen or fresh blueberries
1/3 lemon shortcake mixture
mixing
Combine the sugar, lemon juice and cornflour together in a medium saucepan. Mix in the blueberries and cook until the juice has thickened. Let the mixture cool.
Blueberry Pie Filling
Crème Patissiere
ingredients
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp custard powder
2 eggs
mixing
Heat the milk and vanilla until nearly boiling. Combine the sugar, custard powder and eggs together in a large bowl. Whisk these ingredients well. When the milk is hot, pour over the egg mixture, whisking all the time. Return the custard mixture to the heat, and stir constantly over a medium heat until the mixture seconds and boils. If the mixture appears lumpy, whisk it briskly with a wire whisk.
Blueberry Crumble topping
1/3 lemon shortcake mixture
2 cups frozen or fresh blueberries
Assembly and baking
Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper. It’s best to use a single sheet of paper, folded at the corners, because then all the blueberry goodness is kept within the cake! Press two quarters of the lemon shortcake firmly into the base of the pan. Pour the Blueberry Pie filling over the top. Crumble the next quarter of the lemon shortcake onto the Blueberry Pie filling. Spoon the Crème Patissiere over the top. Sprinkle one cup of the blueberries on top. Crumble the final quarter of the lemon shortcake and sprinkle this on top. Follow with the final cup of blueberries.
Layering the Crumble – top row, left to right, first shortcake layer, blueberry pie filling layer, second shortcake layer… bottom row, crème patissiere and blueberries, final shortcake layer, final blueberries
Bake the Blueberry Crumble Shortcake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 45 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown and the blueberries have collapsed.
