Strawberry Short Cake

A quick and tasty strawberry short cake dessert

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Short cake, strawverry short cake

Servings:

Calories: 589kcal

Author: Patty

Equipment

Veggie work station
Standing Mixer + rubber spatula
Measuring cups + spoons
Two bowls (storing whipped cream + prepared strawberries)
Small bowl + brush (egg wash)
Baking pan + parchment paper

Ingredients

Prep Strawberries

2 pints fresh strawberries hulled and thickly sliced
1 T Organic sugar
1 T Triple Sec

Whipped Cream

3/4 C cold heavy cream
1 T Organic Sugar
2 t Organic Vanilla Extract DIY Extract

Shortcake

2 C all-purpose flour
2 T Organic sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t kosher salt
12 T European unsalted butter ~1.5 sticks cold unsalted diced butter
2 large eggs lightly beaten

Egg Wash

1 Egg Beat with water
2 T Water

Topping

1 T Cinnamon + Sugar mix Sprinkle before baking on egg wash

Instructions

Prep Strawberries

I start by turning the oven on to 400F, then start with my fruit.
Strawberries are annually on the “dirfty list” of fruits + veggies heavily gown with pesticides; always choose organic srawberries, or grow them your self.
Wash, remove green tops, and thinly slice into a bowl.
Add organic surger and Triple Sec, mix thouroughly and put back into the fridge to cool and marinate.

Whip Cream

In standing mixer bowl (with regular mixer attachment) combine cream first, then sugar, then organic vanilla extract. (Link to making your own is in the ingredient list.) Do not mix this for too long or you will whip butter, mix enoudh that the peaks are stiff.
Scrape this into a bowl, cover, and place in the fridge to stay cold until ready. Then clean the mixer bowl for it will be used again.

Shortcake

I tend to first cut the butter into little squares and put that in the freezer while making the rest of the cake so it stays cold. (Cold butter is one of the keys to this cake, so once you add the butter move fast.)
I make the sugar and cinnamon mixture and set aside for later use.
Then I mix the heavy cream and eggs in a measuring cup and lightly beat them
In the clean standing mixing bowl, I will either sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar OR I will add all the dry ingredients and run the mixer for a bit to mix it all up. (Frankly, I do not see nor taste the difference in this cake.)
So into the dry ingredients, with the mixer running on low I add the butter first to get it all integrated. Then add the cream + eggs until a wet dough is made. This happens quickly.
Then I run my hands under cold water, and still slightly cold and damp will use my hands to quickly mix the dough in the bowl to make sure all the dry ingredients are combined. (At this time I may add a bit more cream if needed.) I am moving fast as I want to keep the butter in little chucks to add lift to the cake.
Then I make, by hand, flattened round balls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.
I brush each one with an egg wash (whisk one raw egg with 2T water), and sprinkle a cinnamon + sugar mix on top, and bake for 20 minutes.

SERVING

Add the cake, strawberries, and whipped cream into a bowl and serve.

Notes

Options for Cake Makings: You can take the dough and scrape onto a floured service to roll out and make uniform squares or circles as you choose. The main thing is to try to keep the cold butter cold, so do not overwork.

Options for Serving: You can slice the cake in half and put the whip cream and strawberries between the cake. You can sprinkle additional cinnamon + sugar on the whip cream. Or you can place the strawberries and whip cream in a large martini glass, like Ina Garten does, and serve the cake on the side.

Options to Lower Cal/Carb: This is not a low cal dessert. There is lots of butter, sugar and cream. But you can decide to skip the whip cream or add just a dollop (~1T), skip the sugar + cinnamon mix. and do not add sugar to the strawberries (use some other sweetener).

Source: I got this basic recipe from Ina Garten but she does make it slightly different than I do. I found Triple Sec works best for me as it is something I have around anyway for my Sangria recipe. Also I add different proportions and serving styles. But basically the foundation of this recipe was learned from Ms Garten.

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