Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

Goodbye dry, crumbly, tasteless shortcake biscuits or store bought sponge cake; hello, rich, buttery, old-fashioned shortcake! Perfect for Easter, Mother’s day, spring brunch or summer desserts!

What you’ll need for Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

A few simple ingredients, that I can almost guarantee you will have in your pantry and fridge, except maybe the fresh strawberries:

• ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR | I always use organic, unbleached all purpose flour for my baked goods, unless otherwise specified.
• GRANULATED SUGAR | I used organic pure cane sugar, it’s a bit more coarse, but I love the caramel notes it lends to baked goods.
• BAKING POWDER | provides the lift needed to elevate this to shortcake cake, I bake with no aluminum baking powder.
• KOSHER SALT | just a touch, brings out the buttery sweetness
• BUTTER | the real deal, all cream dairy butter, if it’s soft coming out of the fridge it’s not real butter.
• EGG | Adds richness, along with provides leveling for the strawberry shortcake cake! I use large eggs in most of my recipes.
• MILK | I used organic whole milk, I haven’t tested with lesser fat %, let me know if you try it!
• STRAWBERRIES | kind of a must for Strawberry shortcake!
• WHIPPED CREAM | Optional, but lends to a delicious strawberries and cream tasting dessert.

Why you’ll Love Strawberry Shortcake Cake

• NOT TYPICAL | I love that this old-fashioned strawberry shortcake recipe is a little sweeter than typical shortcake, but not too sweet, I reduced the sugar slightly.
• NUTMEG | the secret ingredient, this fresh nutty spice enhances the simple and basic cake ingredients.
• EASY | I am all about making recipes easier, because you make this in a cake pan, takes dropping or biscuit cutting out of the equation, just bake, slice and serve.
• CHEWY | This old-fashioned shortcake is chewy, almost a bit cookie like, which to me pairs well with fresh strawberries, sopping up the juices well.

How to make Homemade Shortcake

Since this is made in a round cake pan, I think of this as more of a strawberry shortcake cake. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F and grease a 9 or 8″ baking pan, or line with parchment paper.

1. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and fresh grated nutmeg in a large mixing bowl.
2. Using a pastry blender, food processor (carnet not to over mix) or two knives or even your hands, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

1. In a measuring cup, beat egg and milk together.
2. Using a fork, gently stir into flour mixture, just until blended.

1. Spread shortcake batter, pressing with your fingers evenly into prepared baking pan. This is not a pourable cake batter, more like a cookie or scone dough.
2. Bake in preheated oven about 15 minutes for 8″ pan, 15-18 for 9″ pan. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to wire cooling rack to cool completely.

KATHLEEN’S TIP | Baking at a higher temperature yields a crisp brown top and a gooey center. If you prefer a more typical shortcake texture, then reduce the temp to 350 degrees and bake longer, test around 20 minutes.

The original recipe is from All Recipes and has lots of comments about baking times, I’ve given you my tips below.

How to Assemble Strawberry Shortcake

You can make this cake in a round or square pan, cut into triangles like I did, or into neat squares, then add the following:

1. Cut fresh strawberries into quarters or smaller chunks, place in bowl, sprinkle with 1-3 tablespoons of sugar*, tossing to coat. This process is called maceration**. Cover and allow the strawberries to sit on the counter for 20 minutes.
2. If desired, remove ¼ cup of strawberries and mash with fork or masher, returning to the mixture.
3. Place slice of shortcake cake on plate or bowl, spoon desired amount of berries over the top, top with whipped cream, serve immediately!

*Many recipes call for a lot more sugar when macerating strawberries; since this shortcake recipe is already sweet, I think a more tart strawberry adds a nice touch. Sweeten to taste.

Gluten and/or Dairy Free Strawberry Shortcake

• Substitute the all purpose flour with a good cup-for-cup GF Flour.
• Try using coconut oil in place of butter and plant based milk in place of whole milk and use a plant based whipped cream.

*I have not tried either of the two variations, but believe with the nature of the shortcake it should still turn out fine.

High Altitude Adjustments

No adjustments necessary for high altitude for this recipe.

See full post on thefreshcooky.com for tips, tricks, and more notes!