Strawberry Shortcake

Before you start

American strawberry shortcake is not a sponge cake at all. It is a lightly sweetened biscuit, enriched with cream and egg, split while still a little warm and layered with strawberries that have sat in sugar until they release a glossy red syrup. That syrup soaks into the crumb, so the biscuit needs to be sturdy and slightly crisp outside rather than cakey.

The decisions that matter are ripeness and timing. Use berries that are red all the way through; pale, hard fruit stays sour no matter how much sugar you add. Macerate the fruit for 30 to 60 minutes, not overnight, or it turns limp and watery. Whip the cream only to soft peaks and assemble right before serving so the biscuit tops stay crunchy.

Ingredients

• Berries680 g (about 1½ lb) ripe strawberries — hulled and sliced 5 mm thick
• 50 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar — use up to 25 g more if the berries are tart
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Shortcakes250 g (2 cups, spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour
• 50 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar — plus 1 tbsp coarse sugar for the tops
• 1 tbsp (12 g) baking powder
• ½ tsp fine salt
• 115 g (½ cup) cold unsalted butter — cut into 1 cm cubes
• 180 ml (¾ cup) cold heavy cream — plus 1 tbsp for brushing
• 1 large egg
• Whipped cream360 ml (1½ cups) cold heavy cream
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Toss the sliced strawberries with 50 g sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl. Set aside at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes, stirring once, until the sugar dissolves and a pool of syrup forms.
2. Heat the oven to 220°C (425°F). Whisk the flour, 50 g sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
3. Cut the cold butter into the flour with a pastry blender until the largest pieces are the size of small peas.
4. Whisk the 180 ml cream with the egg, pour it over the flour and stir with a fork until the dough just holds together in clumps. A few dry spots are fine.
5. Turn the dough onto a floured counter, press it into a 2.5 cm (1 in) thick round and cut 5 shortcakes, pressing straight down. Gather the scraps gently and cut a sixth.
6. Space the shortcakes 5 cm apart on the lined sheet, brush the tops with cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes, until golden on top and firm when pressed at the sides. Cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes.
7. Just before serving, whip the 360 ml cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla to soft peaks that curl over at the tip.
8. Split each shortcake with a serrated knife. Spoon berries and some syrup over the bottom half, add a large spoonful of cream, then the top half and more berries. Serve at once.

Tips for success

• Taste a berry before you sugar the bowl. Very sweet farm berries may need only 30 g sugar; supermarket berries out of season can take the full amount plus a little more.
• Split the shortcakes while slightly warm, about 15 minutes out of the oven. Fully hot biscuits melt the cream; cold ones taste drier.
• Mash about a quarter of the macerated berries with a fork. The mashed part thickens the syrup and keeps whole slices from sliding off.

Substitutions

Heavy cream in the dough

Buttermilk works if you add ¼ tsp baking soda to the dry ingredients. The shortcakes come out tangier and a little less rich and tender.

Strawberries

Sliced peaches or a mix of berries both work. Peaches need about the same sugar; blueberries release less juice, so crush a third of them.

Whipped cream

Lightly sweetened crème fraîche or Greek yogurt thinned with a spoon of cream gives a tangier, less airy topping.

Variations

Lemon shortcakes

Rub the zest of 1 lemon into the sugar for the dough before mixing, and add a few drops of lemon juice to the whipped cream.

Drop shortcakes

Add 2 extra tablespoons of cream and scoop the dough into 6 mounds with a large spoon instead of cutting. They bake rough and craggy.

Troubleshooting

Berries turned mushy and watery

They sat in sugar too long or the fruit was overripe. Macerate for no more than an hour and slice firm, fully red berries.

Shortcakes baked flat and spread

The butter softened before baking or the dough was too wet. Keep everything cold, add the cream gradually, and chill the cut rounds for 10 minutes if the kitchen is warm.

Bottoms went soggy at the table

Assembly happened too early. Keep berries, cream and biscuits separate until the moment you serve, and drain off some syrup if the bowl is very juicy.

Storage

Assembled shortcakes do not keep; eat them right away. Store unfilled shortcakes airtight at room temperature for 1 day and crisp them at 175°C (350°F) for 5 minutes. Refrigerate leftover berries and whipped cream separately for up to 2 days.

Safety notes

Do not taste the raw shortcake dough, which contains raw flour and egg. Contains wheat, egg and milk.