Do you make actual shortcake?

I make a shortcake that is like a biscuit made with butter instead of Crisco with sugar added to make it sweet. Split after cooked and put sweetened strawberries inside and on top. Top with whipped cream.

I was getting confused with shortbread that is a very crisp, buttery biscuit. https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=4cb3c826a86dcae5&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1ASVC_enFR990FR990&sxsrf=ACQVn08kpYJMjyct6oI5gH9BOe4cDYSlhA:1712728059790&q=scottish+shortbread&uds=AMwkrPubqdDjBmC7DhicLtpZCZYiftYx_YYELTdWEBGvL2NMCL8Pxp4DRHESVpVphtHqZcR1nWdzPOOBHLQa9gXucc10-xx67Qw2SxvBF_KBsGCSiNP4PoII08vhpqcpoObLTjL5VeJERQLxkVa8n7W1WBBk5GYp3jQgSQz_REYhsapXIYYTEaAx2I4MUDWtFIWBVl8g1HAcowiqoO4cBZ6x2GzmkuIJpP57lnzFDyUMMZ4ney8U10tHgMEwvlokJ7PdFeKIJsFmVNOqu_1ydMxP8DC4XD6h8aRubsQp3bfRB3Z810X6WX4&udm=2&prmd=ivnbz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj71Oac-baFAxUs9wIHHXMgAogQtKgLegQIFRAB&biw=1396&bih=777&dpr=1.1

Technically, shortcake is neither scone nor American biscuit, but it's a cousin, and many people, like Sherry, either adapt their biscuit recipe or just use biscuits. Google ”shortcake” and you should see many variations. For me, the cream is key.

I have never made shortcakes or used biscuits with strawberries and cream. I make sponge cake in a muffin pan instead, or I make a chiffon cake in a tube pan to have with strawberries and cream. I've also made pound cake in a loaf pan and served that with strawberries and cream.

I like all of these better than shortcakes or biscuits. Pound cake is the easiest for me to make.

Always biscuits, never cake. Both our families....DH grew up PNW and i, EasternShore. Cream just shy of soft peaks. A handfull of strawberries macerated for juciness. No sugar added. Extra berries and cream at the table.

Just about every seasonal fruit has a traditional preparation here, but i'm always up for anyway someone wants to serve/share. No rules.

Peach cobler, blueberry buckle, cherry clafoutis, crustatta, dutch baby, etc.

I cheat. I use the Bisquick shortcake recipe when I do make them so I guess they are more similar to a sweetened biscuit. But I don't make strawberry shortcake often. I prefer the berries sliced, macerated and served with a really good local lemon yogurt (Ellenos) or whole, dipped in sour cream and Demerara sugar. Don't need no biscuits or cakes!!

My recipe is a biscuit or maybe a scone. The liquid is sour cream. It has a tablespoon of orange zest for a little extra flavor. My secret ingredient is to butter the split biscuit with salted butter.

I don't skimp on anything because we only eat shortcake with the local berries we pick and the season is short. I serve them in soup bowls.

It’s been awhile since I served it, but Ina G’s Deconstructed Strawberry Shortcake is good with mini shortcakes. I served it with mixed berries.

Well, that made me very curious! I'm happy to report that the deconstuction is in serving the bits separately. The shortcakes sound like real shortcake. ;)

She also has a traditional version, although I haven’t tried it…Red Berry Shortcales With Honey Yogurt. With the exception of some orange zest, the shortcake ingredients are about the same as the deconstructed.

Most of the Southern "recipes" are using up leftover to stretch the meal. Hush Puppies are just the batter left over after dipping the fish filets. Later onion was added to the batter to seson.

Leftover biscuits and cornbread with stale loaf bread was used to make dressing.

Leftover stale bread was used to make bread pudding.

Shortcake, just added sugar to a biscuit mix to make a dessert. You ate the plain biscuits with the meal and had the sugared ones for the dessert.

And so on and so on. The idea was to NEVER throw anything away, even a bit of flour and water It just morphed into something else, that was so good, it was made later without leftovers.

Sherry, I'm not doubting you about the sweet biscuit recipe, but shortcake predates the South.

This reminds me of an episode in one of my Pogo books, in which Pogo (blackmailed by Howland and Churchy) disguises himself as Strawberry Shortcut (The Baton Rouge Bombshell) in an effort to get Albert to give up cigars, so that Howland and Churchy can steal them.

Here's the story from the book, Pogo, 1951, if you want to read it:

I usually think of a shortcake as more dense than a cake tender morsel, but more cakey than a biscuits flakiness. I haven't made one in ages. I tend to like pound cake or angel food cake for summer berry goodness. The other day I baked strawberries in a sour cream chocolate cake, that is a pretty good cake and berry thing too. I like to add in some homemade cherry bounce instead of vanilla :)

Lars, I liked that comic very much, it's been a long, long time since I read Pogo, it was in the Sunday paper and we all fought over the "funnies", LOL.

My granddaughters like angel food cake with their strawberries, I like plain yellow cake. I do occasionally make shortcakes, though, mine have butter, cream AND eggs. The tops get brushed with more egg and sprinkled with sugar before baking to get that sweet crackly top.

I prefer my berries warm from the sun, red and ripe and straight out of the strawberry patch, usually while I'm picking them. One for the shortcake, one for me. One for the shortcake, two for me, LOL.

Annie

My mom used to make it during strawberry season, but not in many decades. I really don’t know my cake/dough types, I’d describe hers as a drier somewhat dense cake. She called it biscuit dough but it wasn’t anything like any biscuits I’ve ever had. Not dinner biscuits, anyway. Might be a translation issue?

I think it might be the same dough she used in her Easter Bunny mold; there I never liked if because there was no macerated strawberry juice to come to rescue me from the dryness.

Now that I’m thinking about it, it might have been an all-purpose recipe that she used for several things to varying degees of success. I will ask her tomorrow. I’m very glad this topic came up; it’s definitely a recipe I’ll want to have.

I've added Chloebud's Ina recipe to three I have which read well. I want to test them all, but Don't really have the time or energy. Perhaps if Friday goes well, I can at least start this weekend. But I should get some strawberries...

This is what my mother used to buy at HEB in Texas to make what she called strawberry shortcake. These shells were more like sponge cake, and so I grew up thinking that shortcake was a sponge cake. I like them as a child but never bought them as an adult - I tended to make pound cake to have with strawberries.

Similarly as Islay Corbel mentioned , I too until recently, thought Strawberry Shortcake meant strawberries and cream sandwiched between two shortbread triangles and I have idea where that came from but a long time ago. Sounds pretty good if you ask me.

Real strawberry shortcake is delightful. It's often made with the wrong kind of cake (as in bad for the purpose, too dry, too crumbly, too rubbery, etc.), too much red goo, or the wrong propotions, and can be sandy, gluey, wet, peanutbutter texture, hard, or any number of bad things. Made with purpose rather than thoughtlessly thrown together, it's most delicious. It's a good way to use sour strawberries from either end of the season, because you need to macerate them and they form a syrup, which in turn sweetens the berries. It doesn't have to be strawberries either, they just lend themselves perfectly. Though, we rarely had it when I was a kid, instead, the sour strawberries were served with sour cream and brown sugar. A similar treatment minus the flour (cake).

The ”short” in shortcake (which word originated in England) is the same as in shortbread, i.e., shortening, as in lots of butter. I'm sure all the ”biscuit” references furthered the confusion.

Well, looking at various definitions and recipes, I’m not finding anything definitive for shortcake. The Chicago Tribune says:

There also is an issue over whether a shortcake should be cakelike or biscuitlike. Some culinary researchers claim that’s a regional preference, with Northern cooks historically making sweet biscuits and Southern ones making something more like cake.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2007/07/18/the-long-and-short-of-the-classic-shortcake/#

They also say the name has British origins but shortcake itself is generally considered American. Wiki disagrees, saying they’re from the UK. Something tells me we could add shortcake to the circular arguments about cornbread and scones!

Ok, off to do grocery shopping for mom, I’ll see what I can find out about hers.

Mainer here. I really like the contrast between a flaky biscuit, sweet (ripe) sliced up juicy strawberries and floofy rich whipped cream. My BIL often serves strawberry shortcake for my sister’s birthday. Store bought little sponge cakes. Good but not quite as good to my tastes.

I do recall making trad strawberries & shortcake years ago for my dad who always claimed it as his fave, but never for myself. Growing up, we usually had sponge cake, not the biscuit type.

My personal preference is chocolate cake topped with fresh strawberries & lightly sweetened whipped cream instead of frosting.

Well, THAT was kinda sad. Once a summer staple, my mom had no recollection of it. Or even what strawberry shortcake is. She thumbed through her recipe books and asked about every strawberry cake or pie she stumbled upon, not comprehending that it’s a last minute constructed dessert despite my best efforts including showing pictures.

I then asked my sister. Her recollection was the same as mine, a recipe that she called “biscuit” that she used for several things, usually with inedibly dry results. She said it was actually a sponge cake. Maybe a sponge left out on the counter overnight? She being the less sentimental of the two of us told me the internet would give me better results. Surely it would, but I’m still determined to get to the bottom of this.

FOAS, variations on the same group of factoids abound on the 'net. All referring to each other in kind of a circular cluster. I found some references to more ”origin” rather than ”first mention” material, but lost track of them. Most said England, one said Colonial, one good one gave a rundown of various forms from the earliest published to somewhat before the improved biscuit.

What I can say is any kind of sponge cake technically isn't a shortcake. I've had angel food dressed a la strawberry shortcake and it was delightful. I had a much less favorable reaction to those molded sponge cakes from the store. A sweetened (American) biscuit, while it potentially might not be the ”actual shortcake” I was thinking of, does qualify technically as ”shortcake”.

Going through all the posts, my recipes, and others from the web, I realize that while it does have to be sweetened for ”cake” and buttery for ”short”, the common ingredient of all the ones that don't light the ”it's a biscuit” bulb for me have a generous amount of heavy cream in the dough.

Actual Strawberry Shortcake:

FOAS, I"m sorry about your Mom.

Plllog, there are plenty of bad versions of strawberry shortcake. I had a secretary who would split a Twinkie lengthwise, spoon the macerated berries over top and swore it was better than anyone could make, plus the "whipped cream" was already in the middle of the cakes. THat was definitely not my choice, but to each their own.

My oldest daughter had THAT STrawberry Shortcake, as well as Blueberry Muffin, Lemon Meringue and Raspberry Tart. THere were others, but I sure don't remember them, LOL.

Annie

“I had a secretary who would split a Twinkie lengthwise, spoon the macerated berries over top and swore it was better than anyone could make, plus the "whipped cream" was already in the middle of the cakes”

🥴!!!

What I admire about that Strawberry Shortcake is that her hair is redhead people color, not berry red--she just smelled like strawberries. :) My Raggedy Ann had red red yarn hair--with button eyes, that works--but I liked that they made SS look human, at least in the hair..

The shortcake I have made for years is out of the the first cookbook I got at my bridal shower. It is the red checked Better Homes and Gardens new cookbook. Recipe as follows:

Rich Strawberry Shortcake

2 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1 beaten egg

2/3 cup light cream

3 to 4 cups sugared sliced strawberries

1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Sift together dry ingredients; cut in butter till mixture is like coarse crumbs. Combine egg and cream; add all at once to dry ingredients, stirring only to moisten.

Spread dough in greased 8 x 1 &1/2" round cake pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes or till golden. I use the toothpick test, but watch closely so I don't overbake. We cut in pie shaped wedges, then split in half and smother with strawberries and whipped cream.

This recipe is called Rich strawberry shortcake and has a plain version that just changes the sugar to one Tablespoon and the butter to 1/3 cup and substitutes milk for the cream. I make the rich version.

lizbeth-gardener, That looks like a recipe I would like to make - thanks for sharing!

I've been keeping dehydrated cream on hand for baking, and so I have all of the ingredients for that - except for the strawberries and whipping cream, which I can easily buy when I decide to make it.

Note: BH&G has updated their recipe, but it does not look like an improvement.

Normally, when I find strawberries, I make strawberry ice cream, or I make German Apple Pancakes, which I serve with strawberries and crème fraîche, using Hans Röckenwagner's recipe for Apfelpfannkuchen.

Interesting, we looked at my mom’s BHG which would be from the 50’s, and didn't see it in the index. It wouldn't have been what she made, anyway.

If you add an egg, you're getting more into buckle territory.

If you like your berries sweetened, use a biscuit-type shortcake. If you don't sugar the berries, use a sponge or other cake-like base.

Lars, I will be interested in hearing your opinion if you make the shortcake. It is rich and probably why the newer recipe uses sour cream or yogurt instead of cream-trying to make it a bit more healthy. I will have to try the new version. Thanks for the link.

I'd eat all of it LOL

My understanding is that it made with short fats such as butter or lard and that is why it is called a short cake. Butter is usually cut into the flour such as is done when making a biscuit, thus, it is basically a biscuit, but usually sweeter than a biscuit.

Strawberries and cake can be any kind of cake that you want, but it may not be shortcake. People call anything with berries and cream a short cake, whether it really is, or not.

I dont much care for the real short cake version of it.

lars, I agree with you and also would rather have some other kind of cake for berries. Shortcake is not my favorite. I love my own biscuits, though. But when I want cake, I want some other kind of cake.

During strawberry season her, I make at least once each,shortcake, strawberry pie, and strawberry cake.

FOAS, Elery and I are going to be the exception to that theory. He's from Kentucky/Tennessee, and moved to Michigan when he was a teenager. I've spent my whole life living in this Northern Michigan county, and my Grandpa came here from Canada. I also have some Potawatomi ancestors.

I have always had the biscuit type shortcake and so has Elery. The only difference is that both sides of my family made individual biscuits and often just used the regular biscuit recipe with a bit of sugar. Elery's Mother made a "pone" of biscuits, just a square pan of biscuit dough baked and then cut into squares, and she never even added the sugar, just used the biscuit dough for shortcakes and leftovers for breakfast.

Annie

Annie1992 made me realize I didn't add that I, too, sprinkle sugar on the top of my shortcake before I bake-no egg, just sugar. Mine is more like FOAS remembered from childhood. It's heavier and drier than a cake and very rich. It needs lots of macerated strawberries and the juice. I actually like mine with straight cream and macerated strawberries with juice. My family uses the berries and juice and whipped cream. It sounds very indulgent, but we don't eat it very often.