Southern Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Bake a Classic Shortbread for a Real Strawberry Shortcake
Mar 8, 2009
Old timers in the South just scratch their heads when they see what passes as Strawberry Shortcake these days. Shortcake is a rich biscuit dough creation and not a cobbler topping baked over berries, pound cake sprinkled with berries or (GASP) those little spongy yellow cakes indented on the top and sold ready to load with strawberries and faux berry sugar filling. Sure. You can create berry desserts in a variety of ways, but you are not eating shortcake, unless it’s a baking powder biscuit mixture with a little extra sugar for good measure.
Before making a classic Strawberry Shortcake, you need to get a quart of fresh strawberries. Slice the strawberries in bite sized pieces and cover the berries with a cup of sugar. Let the berries and sugar gel for an hour or more so that you have a sauce with the strawberries. This can be done the night before.
Southern Strawberry Shortcake Bread Recipe
- 2 cups all purpose flour (or plain flour)
- 2 TBS sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup shortening (like Crisco)
- 1 cup milk
Directions:
- Grease or spray Pam in a round 8 inch cake pan.
- Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Cut in shortening. The mixture will look a lot like Bisquick – kind of lumpy.
- Add milk and stir until just mixed. Do not over-mix, or the shortcake will be tough.
- Pour in baking pan and pat out gently with your finger so that the shortcake mixture is evenly spread across the bottom of the cake pan.
- Bake at 450 degrees F until golden brown. This should take about 15 to 20 minutes.
Putting the Traditional Strawberry Shortcake Together
Once the shortcake is baked, split the cake in half like a huge biscuit and butter the shortcake bread and put it back together so that the butter melts.
Get the prepared strawberries out of the refrigerator and put half of the strawberries between the buttered shortcake layers and half on the top of the shortcake.
Top with homemade whipped cream preferably which should be made ahead as well. Store bought whipped cream can be used. Some people also use Cool Whip, although that’s shifting away from the classic presentation of a Southern Strawberry Shortcake.
Thoughts on Classic Strawberry Shortcake
This generation may find the old style Strawberry Shortcake a bit different, since it does have a rich biscuit base rather than a cake base. It's definately not like a slice of cake covered with strawberries and called shortcake or the pre-formed spongy strawberry cake-ettes sold at the grocery store during the season. It's a thicker, heavier, and richer style of dessert.
Other Great Strawberry Recipes
Strawberry Punch Bowl Cake - For those who like the softer cake taste of the newer shortcakes, this really easy punch bowl cake with strawberries is a good bet.
Super Easy Strawberry Pie - If you like Shoney's Strawberry Pie, this one is very similar. It's really quick and easy to make especially if you use a pre-made pie crust.
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