Cornmeal Shortcake + Earl Grey Cream & Roasted Orange Coulis

I’ve always been pretty in to shortcake. It’s been a family favorite for years, even taking the place of birthday cake in some instances.

I was thinking the other day about making a cornmeal shortcake and longing for summer. It seems like cornmeal gets thrown into a lot of things during the summer months since it’s fresh whole form is in season.

Corn is all buttery sunshine and warm breezes. I didn’t want to wait until July to feel like a cornmeal shortcake would be appropriate so I decided to marry winter and summer in one fragrant, seasonal dessert.

It all starts, of course, with that butter, flaky biscuit.

I made mine in two large oval shapes so that I could make one giant shortcake that would fit right into an oval serving platter. If you don’t want to make a single large shortcake, simply cut the shortbread dough into small circles or squares instead. You should be able to get 8-10 portions out of the dough.

You’ll want to make sure and wait to cut the biscuits in half horizontally until they are fully cooled. If you try to cut them when the are still warm they are likely to crumble. The cool biscuit will form a much firmer structure that can handle the slicing.

Filling those sunshine scented biscuits is a thick cream infused with earl grey tea.

I like to use loose leaf for the infusion, but if you can’t find it, tea bags will work just as well. The loose leaf is nice as you can pick out the dried cornflowers from the tea to use as a really lovely garnish on top of the finished shortcake.

Earl Grey infused cream is magical when combined with chocolate, by the way 😉

You’ll want to make sure that you read the instructions for this shortcake all the way through before beginning as several steps need to take place in advance of baking the biscuits and assembling. This cream can be unfused and stored, un-whipped, several days before use. You’ll need to plan to make it at least 3-4 hours in advance of when you’ll want to assemble the dessert.

The final component of this fluffy pile of happiness? That roasted citrus coulis.

Don’t worry. It sounds fancy but it’s super simple to make. You literally just coat sectioned oranges (peel on for minimum labor!) with sugar and vanilla bean powder, then roast in the oven until fragrant and bubbling, then puree until smooth. The end result is a sweet, tangy sauce with an incredible depth of flavor, and, thanks to the blending of blood and navel oranges, the most vibrant and beautiful shade of red/orange that you’ve ever seen.

If I were you, I’d double the sauce recipe and reserve half for drizzling over pancakes, waffles, chia pudding, oatmeal, whatever! It’s just delightful.

This shortcake is based off of my first ever giant shortcake, a version I’ll definitely be making again here in the next few months when spring hits!

If you happen to share this cake on Instagram, remember to share with the hashtag #cakeunfrosted so that I can see it and share it!

Cornmeal Shortcake + Earl Grey Cream & Roasted Orange Coulis

 

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*Shortcake can be made as one large round, as pictured, or as individual rounds (also pictured). Will make 8-10 individual rounds.

Serves: Serfves 9-12

Ingredients

• FOR THE CREAM:
• 1 quart Heavy Cream
• 3 tablespoons Loose Earl Grey Tea (or 8-9 tea bags)
• ¼-1/3 cup Honey
• FOR THE ROASTED CITRUS COULIS:
• 2 Blood Oranges, Peeled, sections separated
• 2 Navel Oranges, Peeled, sections separated
• ⅓ cup Raw Cane Sugar
• ½ teaspoon Vanilla Bean Powder (can use vanilla extract if desired)
• FOR THE BISCUIT:
• 3 Cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 cup Fine Cornmeal
• ¼ cup Raw Cane Sugar
• 2 tablespoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Fine Sea Salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) Cold Unsalted Butter, cubed
• 1¼ cups Coconut Milk or Half and Half
• FOR THE GARNISH:
• 3 Blood Oranges, outer skin cut off and sliced into rounds
• 1 Blood Orange, cut in half and sliced into thin half-moons
• Dried Cornflowers (can be picked out of a loose leaf earl grey tea blend)

Instructions

1. FOR THE CREAM:
2. Place the cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a simmer and remove from heat. Add the loose leaf tea or tea bags to the cream, cover, and let steep while the cream cools, at least 1 hour.
3. Pour the cream through a sieve, pressing on the solids to extract more flavor. Discard solids. Place the cream in a mixing bowl, cover, and chill until cold, 2-3 hours.
4. Once chilled, add the honey (add more or less depending on desired sweetness) and beat the mixture with an electric mixer on high speed until it forms stiff peaks. Cover and keep refrigerated until ready to assemble shortcake.
5. FOR THE ROASTED CITRUS COULIS:
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the orange sections, sugar, and vanilla bean powder in a smaller baking dish and toss to coat the oranges with the sugar.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved and citrus is soft and bubbling.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Place the roasted oranges and syrup in a blender. Process at high speed until mixture is silky smooth. Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to assemble shortcake.
9. FOR THE BISCUIT:
10. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
11. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.
12. Place flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in food processor and pulse a few times to mix.
13. With the processor running, Drop in the cubed butter piece by piece and process until just combined and forming small crumbs.
14. Drizzle the milk or half & half into processor through top while processor is running and process until dough JUST comes together. Be careful to not over-process. Divide the dough into two equal portions.
15. Place each dough portion down on a floured work surface into a circle (or oval, depending on the shape of your serving dish) that is roughly 6 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick.
16. Place each dough round onto a prepared baking sheet. Bake shortcakes for about 15-20 minutes or until tops are just turning slightly brown. Cool on a wire rack.
17. TO ASSEMBLE:
18. Carefully slice both biscuits in half, horizontally. Place one biscuit on a serving platter and spread or pipe ¼ of the whipped cream on top of it. Place a layer of sliced blood oranges over the cream and drizzle with a little it of the roasted citrus coulis. Repeat this process with the remaining biscuit rounds, cream, coulis, and sliced oranges.
19. Decorate the top of the cake with more cream, blood oranges (use the ones with the peel on), and drizzle the remaining coulis over the top. Sprinkle with dried cornflowers, if desired. Keep chilled until ready to serve. Serve shortcake in slices or by spoonfuls.

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