What better way to celebrate summer than with a delicious homemade Strawberry Shortcake? I absolutely love a fresh crumbly scone layered up with strawberry jam, fresh cream and strawberries.
Strawberry Shortcake is a classic American dessert as well as an annoyingly twee little pink cartoon character, search online and you will see what I mean. I did a little research online and it soon became obvious that ‘shortcake’, in this context, is simply a sweet scone. So if you can make scones, you can make Strawberry Shortcake!
I know some people struggle to make good scones, so here is a little help:
TOP TIPS FOR BAKING SCONES:
- Rubbing the fat into the flour is best done by hand, but if I have a large batch to make I do use my stand mixer or sometimes a food processor.
- Never add the liquid in the mixer or food processor (unless you are really expert) as this is likely to overwork the dough, add it slowly and bring together the dough first with a knife and then with your hands.
- Never knead the dough, just bring it together pressing a little until it’s smooth.
- There’s no need to roll out the dough, just pat it down.
- The height of the uncooked dough should be about half what you want for your finished scone, so cut them thick.
- Never twist your cutter when cutting out the scone, it stops it from rising properly.
- Make sure your oven is really hot before putting the scones in to bake.
- For the Shortcake
- 225 g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 50 g soft butter
- 25 g caster superfine sugar
- 1 egg
- milk
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- For the filling
- 2 tbsp strawberry jam
- 12 strawberries
- 150 ml double heavy cream whipped (or 100g clotted cream)
- Heat the oven to 220C
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Put the flour and baking powder in a bowl, add the butter and chop it into the flour, then rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips, until it looks like breadcrumbs, add the caster sugar.
- Crack the egg into a jug or other measure and beat with a fork, add milk up to 150ml.
- Gradually add this mixture to the flour bringing the liquid and flour together into a soft dough, you may need a little less or a little more depending on your flour.
- Pat the dough out to about 1.25cm (1/2 inch)
- Cut into rounds with an 85 mm (3 1/4 in) cutter and place on the baking tray
- Brush the tops of the scones with milk, or the milk/egg mix if you have any left.
- Sprinkle with granulated sugar
- Bake for about 10 minutes until the scones are pale golden brown.
- Remove from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
- Take one cooled scone per person
- Split the scones in half
- Spread strawberry jam on the base of the scones and place on the serving plate
- Top with a spoonful of whipped or clotted cream
- Set aside 4 of the best strawberries (preferably quite small) for the top of the shortcake
- Slice 8 of the strawberries and sprinkle with a teaspoon of caster sugar and 1/4 tsp lemon juice
- Divide the strawberry slices between the four scones
- Place the top of the scone over the strawberries
- Add a small spoonful of cream and top with a small whole strawberry.
If you don't have time to make scones, you can always buy some good quality scones and layer them up with jam, cream and strawberries.
Here are some other strawberry dessert ideas you might like to try:
Raw Strawberry Coconut Macaroons – Planet Veggie
Sensational Strawberry Pavlova – Farmersgirl Kitchen
Strawberry Mousse – Farmersgirl Kitchen
Vegetarian Strawberry Blancmange – Tin & Thyme
Strawberry and Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Cake – Simply Food
And one last look at the Strawberry Shortcake…
This is one of my dream desserts! What a treat 😀
Thanks Nadia, it was very good.
This looks beautiful and summery (unlike our current weather)!
Definitely! Can’t wait for the sun to return.
How perfectly timed for Wimbledon! All I need is a glass of Pimm’s and a great tennis match to watch it with.
now if that’s not a plate of summer then I simply don’t know what is!… beautiful and such joy. I have about a week to go before my home-grown strawbs will be ready… and then I know exactly what I’ll do with them!!
Aw thanks Dom, you can cut down on the sugar, the scones won’t take any hurt from that, and if your strawberries are sweet, that will be enough sweetness. xxx
ARRRGH – I love strawberries but they don’t love me – if I eat them I get a nasty itchy rash and look well…a bit like a strawberry. I think this would work with any berries though – raspberry shortcake?
Absolutely, Fiona! Raspberries, blueberries, peaches I’m sure pretty much anything would work.
OK, so where do I sign up for one?
hee hee, I’ll put one in the post!
Drool worthy nad simply irresistible!!! I never knew twisting the cutter stops raising. I know not to do that next time.
Thank you. Yes, apparently it sort of seals the edges and prevents a good rise.
These desserts look heavenly delicious especially the Strawberry Shortcake and I have learned a lot on your baking scones tips. May I know how many calories per scone? Thanks.