A classic Strawberry Shortcake recipe that can be made as a cake or individual sized servings. Making your own shortcakes and whipped cream means you can control the amount of sugar so the strawberries are the star of the show. It’s best when strawberries are in season so find some fresh picked berries or even better, pick your own.
This recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. My edition is not exactly “new” because it was published in 1981. I’m not sure if this recipe is still in today’s version because they do tend to change the recipes when updating. Sometimes they take out perfectly good recipes so hopefully Strawberry Shortcake is still in there. Because it’s definitely a keeper. In fact it’s the way my mom makes Strawberry Shortcake. Maybe your mom too. It’s not a light sponge cake but rather more like a biscuit or a scone. And there’s hardly any sugar in the cake portion so it’s well balanced.
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How to prepare strawberries for shortcake
You want maximum flavour and juice so make sure your berries are perfectly ripe but haven’t been sitting around too long. Give them a rinse and remove the tops. The best way is to use a sharp paring knife and cut around the green part and slightly down into the centre of the strawberry in a circular motion. This is called “hulling” if you didn’t know. You can actually buy special tools for this but really, it’s a waste of money. Slice up the hulled berries and put them in a large bowl.
The sugar is what helps the berries release juice. It may seem like more sugar than you want to use but since the cake and the whipped cream have very little, it’s ok. After adding the sugar, gently stir into the berries and store them in the fridge for at least an hour but longer is better.
How to make real whipped cream
If it’s in a can, leave it at the store. Yes, I know, it’s fun to squirt it directly into your mouth but most of these products are, in my opinion, kind of gross and way too sweet. Even worse, the ones that say edible oil product are just that. Oil. Real whipped cream is made from whipping cream. It’s sold in the dairy section and has 35% milk fat. Yikes. But that’s why it’s so good. For best results, put a metal bowl and the beaters in the freezer for a while before whipping the cream. This helps everything stay nice and cold and will whip up faster. Start on a very low setting and slowly increase speed as the cream thickens. This helps prevent splattering cream all over you and your kitchen. Don’t over whip the cream or you’ll end up with butter.
When the cream is starting to get pretty thick, add the icing sugar and continue whipping until it’s thick enough to spread on the cake and stay in place. The cookbook recipe uses regular sugar, which is ok but did you know icing sugar (or powdered sugar or confectioners sugar) has cornstarch in it? This helps to stabilize the whipped cream. That way you can make it a little in advance. And it has less tendency to separate after a day or two. I wouldn’t recommend making the whipped cream the day before but if you have leftovers it will last a few days.
Making the shortcake is fairly straight forward. The only difference between a single cake and individual shortcakes is a slight difference in the amount of milk. And of course a difference in baking time. Either spread the cake batter in a round cake pan or pat the individual shortcake dough into a circle and cut rounds with a biscuit cutter. The shortcakes are baked at a higher temperature which is pretty standard for biscuits and scones. If your round cake pan is 9 inches instead of 8, reduce the baking time by about 5 minutes.
If you’re making a single cake, cut the cake in half horizontally. Carefully lift off the top and put it aside. Spoon a little more than half the berries over the bottom layer. Make sure you get lots of juice as well to soak into the cake a bit. Top with just over half the whipped cream. Gently lay the top cake layer over top and cover with the remaining berries and cream. Serve in slices.
If you decide to make individual shortcakes, assemble them exactly the same as the cake but you can put them together at the table as you serve.
If you make Strawberry Shortcake, consider leaving a comment or rating below. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
- 6 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup cold butter
- 1 egg, beaten
- ⅔ cup milk or ½ cup if making individual shortcakes
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 2 Tbsp icing sugar
Instructions
- Rinse, hull and slice strawberries. Add ¼ cup sugar and stir gently. Refrigerate at least an hour but longer is better to allow juices to form.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Ensure rack is in centre position.
- Sift together flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut cold butter into chunks and add to dry. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut into dry mixture until butter resembles course crumbs. This step can be done in a food processor using short pulses.
- Combine beaten egg and milk. Add all at once to dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened.
- Spread dough in an 8 inch round cake pan. If making individual shortcakes, dump dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead just a few times until combined. Pat gently into a 1½ inch thick oval and cut 8 biscuits approximately 3 inches in diameter.
- Bake 15 to 18 minutes for cake pan or 10 minutes for individual shortcakes.
- While shortcakes are cooling, whip cream until fairly thick. Add icing sugar and continue to whip until thick enough to spread on cake and stay in place.
- Assemble cake/cakes by slicing in half horizontally. Spread berries on bottom half and top with whipped cream. Cover with top of cake and spread remaining berries and cream over top.
This is such a classic dessert, but so tasty! It looks beautiful on the plate.
Yes, isn’t that plate beautiful? I’ve had it since 1988!