Shortcake generally refers to a dessert with a crumbly

scone A scone is a baked good, usually made of either wheat or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component ...

like texture. There is multiple variations of shortcake most of which are usually served with fruit and cream, one of the most popular being strawberry shortcake which is typically served with whipped cream. Other variations common in the UK are Blackberry &

clotted cream Clotted cream ( kw, dehen molys, 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 t ...

shortcake, and Lemon Berry Shortcake, which is served with lemon curd in place of cream.

Preparation

Shortcake is typically made with

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many c ...

, sugar, baking powder or soda,

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quanti ...

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food), spread, melted a ...

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulati ...

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 process ...

, 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 a ...

s. The dry ingredients are blended, and then the

is cut in until the mixture resembles

cornmeal Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) or a cell membrane ground from dried corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', ...

. 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 biscuit In the United States and Canada, a biscuit is a variety of baked bread with a firm, dry exterior and a soft, crumbly interior. It is made with baking powder as a leavening agent rather than yeast, and at times is called a baking powder biscuit t ...

s, or poured into a cake pan, 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 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 or seafood, such ...

s (

macerated Maceration is the process of preparing foods through the softening or breaking into pieces using a liquid. Raw, dried or preserved fruit or vegetables are soaked in a liquid to soften the food, or absorb the flavor of the liquid into the food. I ...

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

whipped cream Whipped cream is liquid heavy cream that is whipped by a whisk or mixer until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape, or by the expansion of dissolved gas, forming a firm colloid. It is often sweetened, typically with white sugar, and ...

, 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 Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

. 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 substanc ...

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 of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated ...

or sometimes a corn muffin. 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 (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or ...

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 mention of the term ''shortcake'' occurred in 1588, in the second English cookbook to be printed, ''The Good Huswifes Handmaid for Cookerie in her Kitchen'' (London, 1588). It describes a cookie or biscuit 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 of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

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, is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of a sodium cation ( Na+) and a bicarbonate anion ( HCO3� ...

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 incre ...

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 batters that cause a foaming action (gas bubbles) that lightens and softens the mixture. An alte ...

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 Jennie may refer to: * Jennie (singer), South Korean singer of girl group Blackpink * Jennie, a female given name, variant spelling of Jenny (given name), Jenny * Jennie (musical), ''Jennie'' (musical), 1963 Broadway production * Jennie (novel), ' ...

'' (1866) by

Jane Cunningham Croly Jane Cunningham Croly (December 19, 1829 – December 23, 1901) was a British-born American author and journalist, better known by her pseudonym, Jennie June. She was a pioneer author and editor of women's columns in leading newspapers and magaz ...

. The first known cookbook by a black woman in the United States, ''A domestic cook book'' (1866) by

Malinda Russell Malinda Russell (ca. 1812 – ?) was a free black woman from Tennessee who earned her living as a cook and published the first known cookbook by a black woman in the United States. The book is historically significant, as it shows that black Sout ...

, 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 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.

Record

The largest strawberry shortcake ever made was in the town of La Trinidad, Benguet in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

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

References

{{Cakes British desserts Quick breads Sweet breads Strawberry dishes American cakes Biscuits Pastries

Preparation

History

Festivals

Record

See also

References