Absolute Finest Checks: Strawberry Shortcake

In Absolute Finest Checks, columnist Ella Quittner destroys the sanctity of her dwelling kitchen within the identify of the reality. She’s boiled dozens of eggs, mashed a regarding variety of potatoes, and seared extra Porterhouse steaks than she cares to recall. In the present day, she tackles a summer season dessert famous person: Strawberry shortcake.

Strawberry shortcake hasn’t all the time been fairly so recognizable. The three-part dessert—one half base, one half berry, one half candy topping—was first popularized in America by an 1847 recipe for “Strawberry cake” penned by Eliza Leslie in The Girl’s Receipt-E-book. Whereas Leslie’s shortcakes did name for the important three elements, they had been topped not with billowing dollops of whipped cream however somewhat with white icing designed to harden. Cream later discovered its solution to the dish, across the 1860s, and by the point The Unique Fannie Farmer Cookbook got here out in 1896, strawberry shortcake known as for a topping of “Cream Sauce I,” three elements cream to 1 half milk—overwhelmed ‘til stiff with an egg beater—powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.

In the present day, a fats balloon of whipped cream is kind of a stamp of authenticity on the dessert, which might in any other case are available quite a few types. Like a tuna salad or meatloaf, strawberry shortcake is a deeply private affair. For some, the perfect base is the traditional one: a frivolously sweetened cross between a biscuit and a scone, with the crumbly texture described by the “brief” in “shortcake.” For others, an opulent touchdown pad of pound cake or an Angel Meals Cake is finest to absorb all of the thick, ruby juices expelled by a handful of peak-season strawberries. One Food52 reader wrote {that a} Twinkie is only a top-shelf shortcake therapy, and a fast search confirmed a large consensus inside one nook of the web. (Actually, the Twinkie was first conceived as a manner to make use of strawberry shortcake equipment out-of-season, so it may very well be thought-about a kissing cousin.)

So, this newest installment of Absolute Finest Checks was born not out of a need to hack the venerable shortcake or to dictate a totalitarian components, however somewhat to encourage experimentation. (Consider it just like the S’mores installment, however this time, I’m armed with my very own findings from final month’s Absolute Finest Checks: Macerated Strawberries.) And, like all mothers encouraging wholesome experimentation, I’ll remind you to have enjoyable and be secure!

Base:

• Sponge Cake (aka Angel Meals): The plain benefit to utilizing a slice of Angel Meals Cake over pound cake is its ethereal, springy texture, which is extra thematically aligned with freshly whipped cream and macerated strawberry juice than virtually the rest that’s candy and edible. When you’re a fan of textural contrasts, transfer proper alongside. When you adore a spoonable nursery pudding, stick round. As a result of sponge cake has such a light-weight crumb (it’s aerated with egg white), it turns into comfortable and simply scooped up inside minutes of building. This was not my private favourite—now could be after I disclose I’m certainly a fan of textural contrasts—but it surely made loads of sense, and had a nostalgic worth as a result of it jogged my memory of these wonderful store-bought discs of sponge.

• Pound Cake: Now we’re speaking! (Truly, I’m very a lot nonetheless speaking solely to myself. Sockless and hair-unbrushed, I beat on, borne again ceaselessly into the snack shelf.) For the textural distinction fan membership, a slice of pound cake beneath the softening ripe berries and pillow-soft cream actually hits. The dense crumb of the cake sops up juices and softens, however the exterior of the cake stays agency and intact. Whereas I desire a traditional shortcake total (large spoiler, so sorry), the pound cake does have deserves: It’s laughably simple to make a loaf of 1 and it retains warmth extra readily than a person shortcake, so you’ll be able to slice and serve whereas it’s largely nonetheless heat for maximal impact.

• Traditional Shortcake: Clearly a home made shortcake, like this one from Baking Lawyer Common Medrich, is an excellent base in your shortcake. The usual components is one thing like a sweetened drop biscuit, which implies a crumbly, buttery, scone-like inside, typically with a crackly sugar prime crust. Producing a batch of home made shortcakes will not be fairly as easy as a loaf of pound cake, however you’ll be able to bake and freeze them prematurely for any shortcake emergencies.

• Biscuit: This one’s a sleeper hit in my family (in that my canine whined greedily whereas my husband was sleeping and I used to be tasting (and loving) a biscuit shortcake). The clear profit to utilizing a real biscuit, somewhat than a shortcake, is two-fold: the true biscuit is way flakier and extra buttery than a shortcake, and it’s just about unsweetened, which implies it’s extraordinarily butter-forward in taste. A biscuit recent out of the oven—paired with macerated strawberries and whipped cream—lent the tiniest trace of buttered popcorn in my trials.

• Chocolate Shortcake: Each recipe Sarah Jampel has developed is seamless and constant and makes me need to eat your entire yield earlier than I take advantage of it in no matter manner I contractually ought to use it, and these Chocolate Shortcakes should not an exception to that. Actually, I ate two earlier than I even started these shortcake trials, and determined that cut up open and buttered, they might be an virtually unfairly distinctive breakfast. All of that mentioned, these had been unbelievable as a base for the berries and cream; a refined twist on the traditional. If I had been to make a chocolate shortcake once more, I might incorporate extra chocolate, in additional methods. I’d whip a tablespoon or two of Dutch course of cocoa into the whipped cream, and prime the entire thing with a chocolate-covered strawberry. By which I imply, the pleasant chocolate shortcakes had been a little bit of a tease, and the cocoa taste received misplaced in opposition to the pert assertiveness of the berries.

• Strawberry-Flavored Shortcake: For this trial, I experimented each with swapping a number of the flour in Medrich’s shortcake recipe for pulverized, freeze-dried strawberries, and swapping a number of the cream for macerated strawberry liquid. Each produced shortcakes that had a imprecise punch (which I suppose is a agency finger-point?) of sharpness, although blindfolded I wouldn’t have been in a position to let you know it evoked recent strawberry. If I wished to go full triple-berry on the shortcake, subsequent time, I might lace the whipped cream with macerated berry juice as nicely, and dirt all the things with the pulverized freeze-dried strawberries for optimum taste.

• Twinkie: Whereas I do hate to talk out in opposition to the Twinkie in any manner (Hostess raised me), I most well-liked each different base to the Twinkie, as a result of its sweetness. Texturally, it was in fact most paying homage to the Angel Meals Cake, although with a creamy core. However in opposition to the recent whipped cream and macerated fruit, the Twinkie tasted too saccharine. Which doesn’t imply I received’t devour 12 plain on my subsequent highway journey.

Berries:

• Cooked: I lowered a few pint of flash-macerated strawberries (half-hour or much less) with sugar, lemon juice, and salt, and OH! BOY! I all the time neglect how a lot I like jam! I might not suggest a jam-only shortcake, however for those who actually need to impress somebody, I completely would suggest spooning heat jam over your shortcake base earlier than layering on the berries and cream. Go forward, add some basil too; why not.
• Macerated Solely: A traditional for a motive. As mentioned in [last month’s column[(https://food52.com/blog/28123-the-best-way-to-macerate-berries), macerating strawberries allows for their juices to collect and thicken with sugar, plus additional acid and salt, for a supercharged firetruck-red serum more powerful than anything I’ve paid $85 for on Goop. Thirty minutes will get you most of the way there; additional hours will add an incremental amount of juice and softness> 24 hours is a triumph but requires more uncrushed bits in the mix so things don’t get too slack.
• Macerated & Raw: I used gorgeous, ripe strawberries, so I expected to like this variation more than I did, but next to the macerated specimen, the raw berries were actually a hair too tart.

Toppings:

I tested the following:
– Sweetened Whipped Cream
– Greek Yogurt Whipped Cream
– Labne Whipped Cream
– Sour Cream Whipped Cream
– Buttermilk Whipped Cream
– Mascarpone Whipped Cream

All of these variations were fabulous, somewhat unsurprisingly. The just-perceptible sour tang in the whipped cream is a subtle foil to the sweetness of macerated, peak-season berries—like turning up the heat in your pre-bed shower by a few degrees, then tucking yourself into a comforter-covered bed in a frigid room. Confusing reference? Just try it.

As a rule of thumb, whip your cream with a pinch of kosher salt and a tablespoon of granulated or powdered sugar for every 2 cups of liquid, until you hit soft peaks. (Soft peaks means that if you lift the whisk attachment from the cream, it will hold a tiny mountain of whipped cream, but said tiny mountain will slump over as though it just fell asleep if you flip the whisk.) Then, add your sour element at—this piece is hugely important—room temperature, in spoonfuls, until the resulting whipped cream is just slightly sour. If you add the sour element too cold, it could collect in lumps throughout the cream, which most people wouldn’t notice but it would certainly bum you out.

TL;DR:

• If you want to experiment with a non-shortcake base, and, like me, you love a textural contrast, go for a slice of warm, freshly baked pound cake. If you prefer a soft-on-soft pud’ experience, opt for Angel Food Cake, and/or those excellent store-bought sponge discs sold expressly for the purpose of expedited shortcake.
• If you’re a purist, you cannot beat a buttery traditional shortcake, still warm from the oven and split in two like a book just before you serve; make sure to egg- or cream-wash the tops and sprinkle with sugar before you bake. (A true flakey biscuit is also fun for the sweet-and-salty-dessert crowd.)
• The chocolate shortcake is a noble twist, especially when deployed with Dutch process cocoa powder for Oreo-strawberry milkshake vibes. Consider adding a few tablespoons of cocoa to the sweetened whipped cream as well.
• Swapping out some of the flour in a shortcake recipe for food-processed, freeze-dried strawberry powder, and/or swapping out some of the cream for the macerating liquid from the strawberries, is more exciting visually than it is gustatorily. Which is not to say you shouldn’t do it, but is to say that you might consider supplementing that swap with an additional hit of your emphasized flavor. (If you’re making Barbie-toned strawberry shortcake, make similar adjustments to the whipped cream and consider topping with a dusting of pulverized, freeze-dried strawberries, since the resulting shortcake flavor will be subtle.)
• Macerate your strawberries in lemon juice, sugar, and salt for at least 30 minutes for optimal flavor, even if they’re already ripe. (Macerate up to a day for extremely concentrated flavor, but leave at least two-thirds of the strawberry pieces in larger chunks to avoid a bowl of mush.)
• For an extremely over-the-top shortcake, make your own strawberry jam (see this ABT on Homemade Jam. Generally: macerated strawberries, sugar, lemon, and salt, simmered until thick and sticky), and spoon it over the warm base before topping with the cold cream and room temp berries.
• Add something sour (at room temperature) to your whipped cream! Trust me on this! Greek yogurt, sour cream, labne, mascarpone, and buttermilk are all excellent options. Whip your cream to soft peaks and then add a little at a time as you run the mixer on low speed. Taste and stop when the resulting whipped cream has just a hint of tang, since it’ll taste more sour in contrast with the sweet berries.
• See you soon for Absolute Best Tests: Homemade Butter! I’m addicted to bullet points!!!!