Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

Serves 8-12

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 18 minutes

Ingredients:

• 300g flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 4 tablespoon fine sugar
• 100g salted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup light cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon icing sugar

Filling:

• 450g strawberries
• ¾ cup cream, for whipping
• ½ cup yoghurt
• 2 tablespoon fine sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl. Rub in the butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Combine the beaten egg, cream and vanilla essence in another bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the egg mixture. Gradually stir dry ingredients into the liquid; draw together with your hands into a dough and knead for 1 minute. If you find the dough to be sticky, just add more flour. Make it into a ball, and pat it down into a 9-inch disc.
3. Place on a greased baking tray; bake 15-18 minutes or until well risen, firm and browned on the top. Place it onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
4. Using a large serrated knife, slice shortcake horizontally in half. Cut the top layer into 8-12 equal wedges. Place bottom layer on a serving plate.
5. For the filling, reserve 8-12 whole strawberries; slice or cube the remainder. Whip cream with sugar until soft peaks form. Stir yoghurt; gently fold it into the cream until blended.
6. Spread ¾ of cream mixture thickly over the bottom shortcake layer and cover with sliced or cubed strawberries, pressing them into the cream.
7. Place the shortcake wedges on top of the shortcake. Spread the remainder of the cream on the top. Place the sliced reserved strawberry lengthwise, fan them out slightly on each shortcake wedge. This cake is best eaten within a few hours of being assembled.

Options:

• Petite Strawberry Shortcake. You can make smaller sized shortcakes. Instead of making one round disc, make several small discs and serve each piece individually.
• Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes. You can put the smaller sized disc in a cupcake cup to bake.

Top Prep Tips:

Rinse strawberries in cold water then hull them. If you hull them before rinsing, they will absorb excess water. To hull a strawberry, remove both the leafy cap and the white core attached to the cap. Use a small paring knife to dig it out quickly.Whipping the cream incorporates air into it and increases its volume, thus making a modest amount go quite a long way.