Shortcake generally refers to a dessert with a crumbly

scone A scone ( or ) is a traditional British and Irish baked good, popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is usually made of either wheat flour or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often ...

-like texture. There are multiple variations of shortcake, most of which are served with fruit and cream. One of the most popular is strawberry shortcake, which is typically served with whipped cream. Other variations common in the UK are blackberry and

clotted cream Clotted cream (, sometimes called scalded, clouted, Devonshire or Cornish cream) is a thick cream made by heating full-cream cow's milk using steam or a water bath and then leaving it in shallow pans to cool slowly. During this time, the cream c ...

shortcake and lemon berry shortcake, which is served with

lemon curd Fruit curd is a dessert spread and topping. It is usually made with citrus fruit, though may be made with other fruits. Curds are often used as spreads and as flavourings. Description Fruit curd is a dessert spread and topping usually made wit ...

in place of cream.

Preparation

Shortcake is typically made with

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

, baking powder or soda,

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

, and sometimes

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s. The dry ingredients are blended, and then the butter is cut in until the mixture resembles

cornmeal Maize meal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize. It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', Third Editi ...

. The liquid ingredients are then mixed in just until moistened, resulting in a shortened dough. The dough is then dropped in spoonfuls onto a baking sheet, rolled and cut like baking powder biscuits, or poured into a

cake pan Cookware and bakeware is food preparation equipment, such as cooking pots, pans, baking sheets etc. used in kitchens. Cookware is used on a stove or range cooktop, while bakeware is used in an oven. Some utensils are considered both cookware ...

, depending on how wet the dough is and the baker's preferences. Then it is baked at a relatively high temperature until set. Strawberry shortcake is a widely known dessert made with shortcake. Sliced strawberries are mixed with sugar and allowed to sit an hour or so, until the strawberries have surrendered a great deal of their

juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...

s ( macerated). The shortcakes are split, and the bottoms are covered with a layer of strawberries, juice, and

whipped cream Whipped cream, also known as Chantilly cream or (), is high-fat dairy cream that has been aerated by whisking until it becomes light, fluffy, and capable of holding its shape. This process incorporates air into the cream, creating a semi-soli ...

, typically flavored with sugar and

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

. The top is replaced, and more strawberries and whipped cream are added onto the top. Some

convenience Convenient procedures, products and services are those intended to increase ease in accessibility, save resources (such as time, effort and energy) and decrease frustration. A modern convenience is a labor-saving device, service or substance ...

versions of shortcake are not made with a shortcake (i.e. biscuit) at all, but instead use a base of

sponge cake Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during ...

. Though strawberry is the most widely known shortcake dessert, peach shortcake, blueberry shortcake, chocolate shortcake and other similar desserts are made along similar lines. In some recipes the shortcake itself is flavored;

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

is one addition.

History

The ''short'' part of the name ''shortcake'' indicates something crumbly or crispy, generally through the addition of a fat such as butter or lard. The earliest printed mention of the descriptive term ''short'' – as in ''short cake'' – occurred in 1588, in the second English cookbook to be printed, ''The Good Huswifes Handmaid for Cookerie in her Kitchen'' (London, 1588). However, that recipe describes an unleavened cookie or

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. ...

(in the English sense), made of flour, cream, sugar, egg yolk and spices. Strawberries were first included in a recipe for "Strawberry cake" which appeared in the June 1, 1845, issue (page 86) of ''The Ohio Cultivator'' (Columbus). The recipe was popularized by

Eliza Leslie Eliza Leslie (1787 – 1858), frequently referred to as Miss Leslie, was an American author of popular cookbooks during the nineteenth century. She also wrote household management books, etiquette books, novels, short stories and articles for maga ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in ''The Lady's Receipt-book'' (1847). These "Strawberry cakes" were made of a thick unleavened cookie of flour, butter, eggs and sugar, split, layered with fresh strawberries, and covered with a hard sugar-and-egg white icing. The North American introduction of

baking soda Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda (or simply “bicarb” especially in the UK) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt (chemistry), salt compose ...

and

baking powder Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. The base and acid are prevented from reacting prematurely by the inclusion of a buffer such as cornstarch. Baking powder is used to increas ...

leaven In cooking, a leavening agent () or raising agent, also called a leaven () or leavener, is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batter (cooking), batters that cause a Effervescence, foaming action (gas bubbles) that lightens and ...

in the 1800s revolutionized baking and made possible the biscuit-style shortcake. By the 1850s, leavened shortcakes were the popular pastry for American strawberry cakes, and the term strawberry shortcake became established. By the 1860s, cream was being poured onto the shortcake and strawberries. A June 1862 issue of the ''Genesse Farmer'' (Rochester) described a "Strawberry Shortcake" made up of layers of soda biscuit, fresh berries, sugar, and cream. A similar recipe appeared in '' Jennie June's American Cookery Book'' (1866) by Jane Cunningham Croly. The first known cookbook by a black woman in the United States, ''A Domestic Cook Book'' (1866) by Malinda Russell, also contains a recipe. File:Strawberry Shortcake (13917733299).jpg , American-style strawberry shortcake with a biscuit base File:Strawberry shortcake with whipcream.jpg , American-style strawberry shortcake with a sponge cake base File:Strawberry short cake（ストロベリーショートケーキ） (2874857378).jpg , Asian-style

strawberry cake Strawberry cake is a cake that uses strawberry as a primary ingredient. Strawberries may be used in the cake batter, atop the cake, and in the frosting. Strawberry cakes are typically served cold. Overview Strawberry cakes may be prepared w ...

File:Strawberry Cake.JPG , Asian-style strawberry cake

Festivals

In the United States, strawberry shortcake parties were held as celebrations of the summer fruit harvest. This tradition is upheld in some parts of the United States on June 14, which is Strawberry Shortcake Day. The city of Lebanon, Oregon, holds the Strawberry Festival each year on the first full weekend of June. Since 1931, the festival has featured the "Worlds Largest Strawberry Shortcake", which is transported by float during the Grand Parade and then served by the Strawberry Queen and her Court to festival visitors. The title of "Worlds Largest" is an honorary title. At approximately 5,700 lbs, the cake does not definitively hold the world record.

Record

The largest strawberry shortcake ever made was in the town of

La Trinidad, Benguet La Trinidad (), officially the Municipality of La Trinidad (; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, province of Benguet, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...

, in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

on March 20, 2004. It weighed 21,213.40 lbs (9622.23 kg).

References

{{Portal bar, Food, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United States, Japan British desserts Quick breads Sweet breads Strawberry dishes American cakes British cakes Biscuits Pastries Symbols of Florida

Preparation

History

Festivals

Record

See also

References