I was on a mission to make a great strawberry shortcake. In my mind, the shortcake should always be more biscuit like. It has become fashion to make a strawberry shortcake with something that resembled angle food cake rather than the shortcake I know and love. I went through AllRecipes.com and read a lot of reviews and comments and eventually decided on the one that had the most people complaining about how this didn’t taste like commercially bought shortcake. Perfect!
I also picked up an awesome tip when reading the reviews. It is always a difficult task to keep the butter cold (an important part of flaky crust) while also getting it small enough to blend into a crust. So someone recommended to freeze it and then use a cheese grater to make little butter ribbons. Wouldn’t you know? Worked like a charm! I will be doing this for all future baking.
I wanted to make smaller short cakes, so I opted to make the dough into smaller balls and then press them down to create smaller shortcakes (rather than 2 large ones that I would layer). I also tried another version where I put them in mini tart pans, and that worked well also.
The dough was a bit sticky, but as long as you’re not too worried about getting your hands dirty, easy to work with. I also added in almond and vanilla extracts to add a bit of flavor. It was a good move.
You are supposed to layer it with sugar coated strawberries, but I am a fan of adding balsamic vinegar to the mixture to add a little punch to the flavor. I then made some home made whipped cream, layered, and adorned with fresh strawberries. It was delicious!!
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RECIPE
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Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake
(Original Credit to AllRecipes.com)
Ingredients
- 1 quart strawberries, sliced
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (I wound up needing a bit more since it was a humid day and my dough was a bit sticky)
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 dash ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I added this)
- 1/2 tsp almond extract (I added this too)
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 eggs, separated
- 2 cups sweetened whipped cream
- Balsamic Vinegar (enough to coat the sugared strawberries)
Directions
- In a bowl, gently stir strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar; coat with balsamic vinegar, chill.
- Meanwhile, in another bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; cut in butter until crumbly. (refer to tip above about grating butter)
- Combine milk and egg yolks; mix well.
- Add vanilla and almond extracts.
- Add to crumb mixture, stirring just until moistened.
- Divide and pat into two greased 9-in. round cake pans. (Or into 8 4-5 inch tart pans, or divide into 8 balls and flatten onto a greased or Silpat cookie sheet)
- In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; spread over dough.
- Sprinkle with remaining sugar.
- Bake at 300 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until golden.
- Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. (Layer may be thin.)
- Cool completely.
- Place one cake layer on a large serving plate; spread with half of the whipped cream.
- Spoon half of the strawberries over cream. Repeat layers. Garnish with mint if desired.
