Since I’m still seeing tons of nice strawberries around, I decided to pull my favorite strawberry shortcake recipe up out of the archives. This was originally posted back in May of 2007 when I was still living in Sicily.
The strawberry shortcake I grew up eating was always assembled using those little yellow sponge cake cups that can be found right next to the strawberries in almost any grocery store in the country. As a child, I thought those little prepackaged treats were wonderful topped with strawberries and freshly whipped cream. But after tasting homemade strawberry shortcake for the first time several years ago, I walked away from those little yellow cakes and never looked back.
Strawberry Shortcake
4 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced
4 – 6 tablespoons sugar (adjust to suit your own taste)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
4 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup cold milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
whipped cream (I prefer the real thing)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a medium bowl, stir together the strawberries and sugar. Set strawberries aside to macerate while you prepare the shortcakes. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and sugar. Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, and working quickly, cut or rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk and vanilla all at once to flour mixture and stir until just combined.
Using a large spoon, drop mixture into four equal piles on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 12 – 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Remove biscuits to a rack and let cool for a few minutes. To serve, split a warm biscuit in two, spoon 1/4 of the berry mixture over the bottom half (make sure you include lots of the juice), top with whipped cream and the other half of the biscuit.
That definitely looks better than the store sponge cake stuff which is cemented firmly in my childhood also as the number 1 way to make strawberry shortcake.
That looks really good.
4:56 am Jul 1st, 2010I’m with you, those little packaged sponge cakes are a disaster! REAL berry shortcakes are my all-time favorite dessert! Yours looks just perfect! I have a variation on my site with cornmeal shortcakes. It’s a nice little textural twist.
5:38 am Jul 1st, 2010Nicole, this recipe looks so similar to the strawberry shortcake that my beloved grandma, Henrietta, would make (only once a year as a special treat when the berries were running at their sweetest). I’m excited to make this for my girls this summer. Thanks for the memories and the recipe.
5:45 am Jul 1st, 2010I just picked strawberries from a farm and froze them. Would it be possible to use them in this recipe?
7:08 am Jul 1st, 2010I’m probably one of the few people who didn’t like those little yellow sponge cakes as a kid. And shortcake biscuits were the one thing my grandma didn’t make well (though she makes the best pie in the area )…so I only started eating shortcake in the past few years! I’m always looking for new recipes to try to make up for lost time – I can’t wait to try this one.
7:32 am Jul 1st, 2010Kelly: I think fresh strawberries are best for shortcake. Thawed frozen strawberries have a different texture, so I prefer to use them in things that are blended or cooked.
8:04 am Jul 1st, 2010Throwback Thursday!!! Yay!
10:00 am Jul 1st, 2010Looks delicious! I have actually never had one of those spongecakes (thanks mom!) and, especially after reading this, probably never will. One quick comment/tip – there is a great recipe for shortcake on Epicurious that uses cream cheese. Just when you thought strawberry shortcake couldn’t get any better, it did. I would recommend trying it.
11:07 am Jul 1st, 2010NIcole, our store still has those little yellow sponge cakes. We never had them at home though. Mom made her own.
Up here in New England, short cake is served like your recipe, and often the biscuits are served warm, and buttered. It is actually very good.
1:13 pm Jul 1st, 2010I adore this! I made this too the other day on my blog but I’m gonna try your biscuits next.
3:59 pm Jul 1st, 2010I couldn’t resist… I loved the imagery and idea so much, I reposted (with credit, of course!)… see it here: http://www.chocolatepizzastilettolove.com/2010/07/its-holiday-weekend.html
xoxo
5:42 pm Jul 1st, 2010love the lighting on this photo, so classic-so delicious
9:26 pm Jul 1st, 2010Lovee how this looks
3:39 am Jul 3rd, 2010Wow that looks delicious. You take great photos! I’m definitely going to try this recipe.
2:20 pm Jul 3rd, 2010This recipe looks so easy. A must try – thanks!
9:40 am Jul 4th, 2010No surprise with the strawberries being awesome right now that you put this up. I grew up with this kind of shortcake and this week, on Canada Day (July 1), which is also my wedding anniversary. I made a variation of this recipe on my barbecue on a beach on a lake in the southern interior of BC, just north of Spokane Wash. I shared it with 21 friends and family . Despite continuing cool temperatures, summer doesn’t get much better than that.
9:24 pm Jul 4th, 2010I’ve always wanted to know how to make my own style of strawberry shortcake, and glad you had your recipe here.
8:46 pm Jul 6th, 2010Oh man. Growing up I thought strawberry shortcake was always made with angel food cake – because that’s what we were always served from Grandma. But then someone made me real shortcake. I will never go back. Your picture is good enough to eat.
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2:37 pm Jul 20th, 2010My food stylist neighbor gave me an amazing recipe for strawberry shortcake when I came home with 8 gallons of fully ripe berries from a local u-pick farm. It called for a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar sprinkled on the sliced berries with the sugar. It recommended to let them sit for one hour while making the cakes. It added a perfect depth of flavor. Very, very good!
9:07 pm Aug 14th, 2010