A Month of Blogs - How to Make Strawberry Shortcake

How to Make Strawberry Shortcake

Suggested by Susan V.


As a writer who seems to have hit a low point in creativity and / or just getting off my ass and writing, I signed myself up to write 31 blog posts during October - one a day - on any subjects that are suggested to me. The only rules for suggestions are that they can't be anything that involve me having to take on a particular viewpoint (so no "Why I Hate Twilight" or "Why Rock Music is the Best Music") - this isn't debating class, and right now I'm not interested in trying to argue something that I may or may not agree with. Anything else goes - it can be a specific subject or a broad one, one that I've written about in the past or something new that will need research. If you're interested in playing along, you can leave a comment here, or email me at thenordicalien@gmail.com. (I'll try and remember to check there, honest!)

I promised this recipe to Susan three or four months back, and is standard for someone with short-term memory loss, promptly forgot about it. She very gently reminded me when I was looking for suggestions of topics for the October 31-day blogging challenge, so I promised I would make it my first post.

Sorry there are no pictures - strawberries aren't in season right now, although if I make the cake itself soon I'll put a photo up.

Also, a note - I tend to measure in cups. Buying a set of measuring cups is probably your best bet if you want to make any of my recipes - you can get a set from any cheap kitchen store or supermarket for a couple pounds / dollars - but if you're really too cheap and or lazy to do that, an American cup is about 2/3 of a standard British mug, or 1 1/2 times a British teacup. This recipe, as with most of the ones I use, works pretty well even if your measurements aren't exact.

The basic structure of the cake - eggs, flour, butter, sugar - comes from the 1963 edition of McCalls Cookbook, published by Random House. The flavourings are my blend.


Ingredients:

For the cake:

~ 3 cups sifted flour. In the US I use cake flour; in the UK I use half plain and half self-raising.

~ 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder. Not soda. Powder. Don't accidentally use tablespoons the way my mom did once.

~ 1 teaspoon salt.

~ 3/4 cup butter. You can use vegetable spread if you insist, although I'm a fan of butter for cakes. It's not as crucial as it would be in a finer cake though.

~ 1 1/2 cups sugar. I used to use half white and half demarara, which is nice. Now I use all unrefined since that's the only kind we buy. It's still nice. A bit less sweet.

~ 3 eggs. BUY FREE RANGE! Nothing to do with how well the recipe works, just that you should do that.

~ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence or 1/4 teaspoon crushed vanilla pod. Do not buy anything that says "vanilla flavouring". Vanilla flavouring has no vanilla in at all. And it tastes rank.

~ 1 teaspoon almond essence. I leave this out sometimes, since my brother's allergic, but it adds a nice taste.

~ 1/2 tablespoon crushed edible lavender or 2 tablespoons lavender sugar. You can add a bit more of this if you want, but if you do, scale back a bit on the normal sugar.

~ 1 cup milk. We use semi-skimmed. I've never tried to make it with other kinds of milk, although I suppose it would work well enough. If you try, let me know how it works out.


For the topping:

~ Strawberries.

~ Vanilla ice cream (optional).

~ Whippy (aerosol) cream or pouring cream (double or single, doesn't matter).


Equipment:

~ 2 mixing bowls. At least one needs to be large-ish (14-inch diameter or larger).

~ Measuring cups and spoons.

~ Sieve.

~ Rubber spatula. Plastic works, but rubber is best. If you're not sure, get your partner to spank you with it. If it stings, it's rubbery enough. Also, when I say "spatula" I don't mean one of those lifter things with holes that some people call spatulas - I mean one of these. (They're not usually that expensive.)

~ Wooden spoon (not mandatory, but it helps).

~ Cooling rack.

~ Sharp knife.

~ Electric mixer. You CAN do it with a french whisk and wooden spoon and a heck of a lot of bicep strength (and if you do, please send me a photo), but I'd recommend the mixer.

~ Cake tin. I use a round one, although a loaf tin would probably work (although I'm not sure how you'd adjust the cooking time). If you're going for a round tin, I recommend a 7-inch diameter. (Women will most likely know what this means. Men: if you don't know, look at your round tins - or the ones in the shop - and select the one that you think is seven inches. Then choose the next size up. This is actually seven inches.) The most important thing is that it needs to be deep - at least three inches deep, four would be better.

This recipe does not work well as a layer cake.


Method:

1) Preheat your oven to 350 - 375 F / 180 - 190 C / Gas Mark 4 1/2 - 5.

2) Grease your baking tin liberally. I know a lot of people grease with oil and flour, but I find that a fairly gross method - I use butter or vegetable spread on a piece of kitchen towel and rub it all over the bottom and sides of the tin. Make sure you use quite a bit - a tablespoon, maybe a little more.

3) In your smaller bowl (if they're two different sizes), sift your flour along with your baking powder and salt. Set this to one side.

4) In your larger bowl (if you have one), use your electric mixer / superior bicep strength to beat your eggs until fluffy, then add butter, sugar, vanilla, almond and lavender. Beginners' tip: if you're having trouble measuring out your butter, fill a measuring cup 1/4 full of water, then add butter until the water's just about to overflow. I find this easier than trying to measure out a full 3/4 cup of butter, since the butter inevitably doesn't want to fill the cup without leaving empty spaces. Just make sure you don't have butter sticking over the top of the cup if you use this method.

5) At a low speed on the mixer, beat your flour mixture (in fourths) and milk (in thirds) into your butter-egg-sugar medley, beginning and ending with the flour mix. I know some people just chuck it all in together, and I suppose this might work, but I like to do it in bits because I KNOW that way works. And I'm a creature of habit, gosh darn it. You may want to use your wooden spoon to fold the batter together a few times when you add the flour mixture, so the flour doesn't all fly into the air and up your nose.

6) Pour your batter into your cake tin, using the spatula to get the last of the batter off the sides. I advise against licking the bowl - I know parents have been letting their kids eat the scrapings of raw cake batter since time immemorial, but I'm not someone who thinks salmonella is something to screw around with. That said, I have to be super-careful due to my lack of immune system, so YMMV. I know my mom eats cake batter and hasn't contracted any awful diseases yet. That we know of. Smooth the cake as much as you can on the top. It won't be totally smooth, since it's fairly viscous, but do your best.

7) Bake. The book says 30 to 35 minutes, which is a load of crap. It'll probably take an hour and a quarter. You can check it after 45 if you really must, but bear in mind that the more you check the more likely it is to sink. When it's brown on the top, check that it's cooked by poking a sharp knife in the center. If it comes out clean, it's ready. If your knife has any gooiness on it, try again in 15 minutes.

NOTE: People cooking with a fan-assisted oven, or at a high altitude, will need to adjust cooking times. I don't have a fan-assisted oven or live in the mountains, so I don't know exactly what the adjustments are, and you'll have to play around. Generally fan-assisted ovens cook things more quickly, so I'd advise checking the first time after 30 minutes if you're using one. If you're at a high altitude, it may take longer to cook. There's a formula for it (or at least for water, which boils at 1 degree F lower for every 500 feet above sea level) but I think trial and error is your best option.

8) When your knife comes out clean, let the cake rest in its pan on a cooling rack for 12 or 15 minutes.

9) After 12 or 15 minutes, run your knife around the cake where it meets the tin. Tip cake upside-down onto your hand or a plate and bang the top hard. Squeeze the sides a little if it doesn't come out. If it's really stuck, tip right way up again and run knife around the edge once more, this time wiggling the knife a little so the edges pull away from the tin. Tip upside-down and commence banging and squeezing. If you're lucky, it'll come out with very little damage. If a lot breaks off and stays stuck in the tin, you have three possibilities: a) you didn't wait long enough and the cake was too hot; b) you waited too long and the cake was too cold; or c) you didn't use enough butter when you greased the tin. Nothing you can do about it now, but you'll know next time.

10) Eat whatever's left in the tin.

11) Wash strawberries. Remove stalks, cut in half.

12) Either let your cake cool or serve it hot. Stick strawberries on top of cake, add vanilla ice cream or whippy aerosol cream or pouring cream or some variation thereof. You could even beat your cream (if it's double cream - this does not work with single cream or whippy cream) if you want. I like mine with ice cream and a squirt of whippy cream.

13) Hide from your nephews before they eat the entire thing.


For more information on high-altitude cooking, go here - http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/culinaryfundamentals/a/highaltcooking.htm  .

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