In Absolute Finest Checks, columnist Ella Quittner destroys the sanctity of her residence 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. Right now, 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 parts, they have been topped not with billowing dollops of whipped cream however relatively with white icing designed to harden. Cream later discovered its strategy to the dish, across the 1860s, and by the point The Unique Fannie Farmer Cookbook got here out in 1896, strawberry shortcake referred to as for a topping of “Cream Sauce I,” three elements cream to at least one half milk—crushed ‘til stiff with an egg beater—powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.
Right now, a fats balloon of whipped cream is kind of a stamp of authenticity on the dessert, which may in any other case are available in a lot of types. Like a tuna salad or meatloaf, strawberry shortcake is a deeply private affair. For some, the perfect base is the basic one: a frivolously sweetened cross between a biscuit and a scone, with the crumbly texture described by the “quick” 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 remedy, and a fast search confirmed a large consensus inside one nook of the web. (The truth is, the Twinkie was first conceived as a means to make use of strawberry shortcake equipment out-of-season, so it could possibly be thought of a kissing cousin.)
So, this newest installment of Absolute Finest Checks was born not out of a want to hack the venerable shortcake or to dictate a totalitarian components, however relatively 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:
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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 anything that’s candy and edible. In the event you’re a fan of textural contrasts, transfer proper alongside. In the event 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 tender and simply scooped up inside minutes of building. This was not my private favourite—now’s after I disclose I’m certainly a fan of textural contrasts—however it made loads of sense, and had a nostalgic worth as a result of it jogged my memory of these glorious store-bought discs of sponge.
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Pound Cake: Now we’re speaking! (Truly, I’m very a lot nonetheless speaking completely 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 basic 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 may slice and serve whereas it’s largely nonetheless heat for maximal impact.
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Traditional Shortcake: Clearly a home made shortcake, like this one from Baking Lawyer Basic Medrich, is an excellent base to 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 isn’t fairly as easy as a loaf of pound cake, however you may bake and freeze them upfront for any shortcake emergencies.
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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, relatively than a shortcake, is two-fold: the true biscuit is far flakier and extra buttery than a shortcake, and it’s just about unsweetened, which implies it’s extraordinarily butter-forward in taste. A biscuit contemporary out of the oven—paired with macerated strawberries and whipped cream—lent the tiniest trace of buttered popcorn in my trials.
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Chocolate Shortcake: Each recipe Sarah Jampel has developed is seamless and constant and makes me wish to eat your complete yield earlier than I take advantage of it in no matter means I contractually ought to use it, and these Chocolate Shortcakes usually are not an exception to that. The truth is, I ate two earlier than I even started these shortcake trials, and determined that break up open and buttered, they’d be an virtually unfairly distinctive breakfast. All of that stated, these have been unimaginable as a base for the berries and cream; a delicate twist on the basic. If I have been to make a chocolate shortcake once more, I might incorporate extra chocolate, in additional methods. I would 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 have been a little bit of a tease, and the cocoa taste acquired misplaced towards the pert assertiveness of the berries.
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Strawberry-Flavored Shortcake: For this trial, I experimented each with swapping among the flour in Medrich’s shortcake recipe for pulverized, freeze-dried strawberries, and swapping among 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 capable of inform you it evoked contemporary 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 properly, and dirt all the pieces with the pulverized freeze-dried strawberries for optimum taste.
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Twinkie: Whereas I do hate to talk out towards the Twinkie in any means (Hostess raised me), I most well-liked each different base to the Twinkie, as a result of its sweetness. Texturally, it was after all most harking back to the Angel Meals Cake, although with a creamy core. However towards the contemporary whipped cream and macerated fruit, the Twinkie tasted too saccharine. Which doesn’t imply I gained’t eat 12 plain on my subsequent street journey.
Berries:
- Cooked: I decreased a couple of 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 advocate a jam-only shortcake, however in case you actually wish to impress somebody, I completely would advocate 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 basic for a purpose. As mentioned in [final month’s column[(https://food52.com/weblog/28123-the-best-way-to-macerate-berries), macerating strawberries permits for his or her juices to gather and thicken with sugar, plus further acid and salt, for a supercharged firetruck-red serum extra highly effective than something I’ve paid $85 for on Goop. Thirty minutes will get you many of the means there; further hours will add an incremental quantity of juice and softness> 24 hours is a triumph however requires extra uncrushed bits within the combine so issues don’t get too slack.
- Macerated & Uncooked: I used attractive, ripe strawberries, so I anticipated to love this variation greater than I did, however subsequent to the macerated specimen, the uncooked berries have been truly a hair too tart.
Toppings:
I examined the next:
– Sweetened Whipped Cream
– Greek Yogurt Whipped Cream
– Labne Whipped Cream
– Bitter Cream Whipped Cream
– Buttermilk Whipped Cream
– Mascarpone Whipped Cream
All of those variations have been fabulous, considerably unsurprisingly. The just-perceptible bitter tang within the whipped cream is a delicate foil to the sweetness of macerated, peak-season berries—like turning up the warmth in your pre-bed bathe by just a few levels, then tucking your self right into a comforter-covered mattress in a frigid room. Complicated reference? Simply attempt it.
As a rule of thumb, whip your cream with a pinch of kosher salt and a tablespoon of granulated or powdered sugar for each 2 cups of liquid, till you hit tender peaks. (Smooth peaks implies that in case you carry the whisk attachment from the cream, it’s going to maintain a tiny mountain of whipped cream, however stated tiny mountain will hunch over as if it simply fell asleep in case you flip the whisk.) Then, add your bitter aspect at—this piece is vastly necessary—room temperature, in spoonfuls, till the ensuing whipped cream is simply barely bitter. In the event you add the bitter aspect too chilly, it may acquire in lumps all through the cream, which most individuals wouldn’t discover however it could definitely bum you out.
TL;DR:
- If you wish to experiment with a non-shortcake base, and, like me, you like a textural distinction, go for a slice of heat, freshly baked pound cake. In the event you desire a soft-on-soft pud’ expertise, go for Angel Meals Cake, and/or these glorious store-bought sponge discs bought expressly for the aim of expedited shortcake.
- In the event you’re a purist, you can’t beat a buttery conventional shortcake, nonetheless heat from the oven and break up in two like a e book simply earlier than you serve; be certain that to egg- or cream-wash the tops and sprinkle with sugar earlier than you bake. (A real flakey biscuit can be enjoyable for the sweet-and-salty-dessert crowd.)
- The chocolate shortcake is a noble twist, particularly when deployed with Dutch course of cocoa powder for Oreo-strawberry milkshake vibes. Contemplate including just a few tablespoons of cocoa to the sweetened whipped cream as properly.
- Swapping out among the flour in a shortcake recipe for food-processed, freeze-dried strawberry powder, and/or swapping out among the cream for the macerating liquid from the strawberries, is extra thrilling visually than it’s gustatorily. Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t do it, however is to say that you just may contemplate supplementing that swap with a further hit of your emphasised taste. (In the event you’re making Barbie-toned strawberry shortcake, make comparable changes to the whipped cream and contemplate topping with a dusting of pulverized, freeze-dried strawberries, because the ensuing shortcake taste can be delicate.)
- Macerate your strawberries in lemon juice, sugar, and salt for no less than half-hour for optimum taste, even when they’re already ripe. (Macerate as much as a day for very concentrated taste, however go away no less than two-thirds of the strawberry items in bigger chunks to keep away from a bowl of mush.)
- For an especially over-the-top shortcake, make your individual strawberry jam (see this ABT on Do-it-yourself Jam. Usually: macerated strawberries, sugar, lemon, and salt, simmered till thick and sticky), and spoon it over the nice and cozy base earlier than topping with the chilly cream and room temp berries.
- Add one thing bitter (at room temperature) to your whipped cream! Belief me on this! Greek yogurt, bitter cream, labne, mascarpone, and buttermilk are all glorious choices. Whip your cream to tender peaks after which add a bit at a time as you run the mixer on low velocity. Style and cease when the ensuing whipped cream has only a trace of tang, because it’ll style extra bitter in distinction with the candy berries.
- See you quickly for Absolute Finest Checks: Do-it-yourself Butter! I’m hooked on bullet factors!!!!
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