Guys, behold my opus: strawberry shortcake. She's a beauty alright.
You knew this was coming. I've been hooting and hollering about strawberry season in Oregon for a good few posts now. First there was strawberry ice cream. Then there was my sweetened condensed milk loaf with strawberries and cream. But I'm not gonna lie — those were first of the season strawberries. Good, but not the best they could be.
But on my last trip to the farmer's market, everything changed. Locally grown strawberries of all varieties were in abundance:
Pints after pints of bright red, luscious strawberries. Ever-so-sweet and fully ripened. We walked away with three pints for only $8; it was really quite the steal. I opted for hood strawberries, which are known for their bright color and sweetness:
Similar to my recipe for the sweetened condensed milk loaf, I wanted to find a recipe that featured strawberries as the star — a strawberry shortcake seemed like the best solution. Nothing but layer upon layer of buttermilk cake, macerated strawberries, and whipped cream, this cake is a dream. I recently brought it to a dinner party where our host actually exclaimed in delight when he saw the cake. It was the perfect springtime dessert.
Without further ado, the recipe and a few baker's notes:
Choose strawberries that are darker red and smaller — this signifies that the berries are riper, which means they'll yield more juice and will be sweeter and more intense in flavor.
Make the strawberry filling first by allowing the strawberries to macerate (fancy word for soak) in sugar, vanilla, and rose water. The rose water imparts an almost flowery taste to the cake — I'm a big fan, but feel free to exclude if you're opting for a more traditional shortcake flavor.
The cake uses three small 6-inch cake pans to make a buttery buttermilk cake. You can probably use bigger, more traditionally sized cake pans to make two layers, but be sure to adjust baking time accordingly.
According to the cookbook I adapted the recipe from, it's a little unsual to use all baking powder and no baking soda in a cake that contains buttermilk. It was done in this recipe to emphasize the nuttiness of the buttermilk and to produce an extra-tender crumb.
The cake layers can be baked up to 2 days in advance; to store, allow the layers to cool completely before wrapping and refrigerating.
The finished shortcake will NOT hold up for more than a day — the whipped cream will loose its fluff, and cause the entire cake to lose its structural integrity. However, it's important to assemble the dessert at least an hour in advance so that the juice and cream have a chance to seep into the cake layers and allow all the flavors to meld together beautifully.
Enjoy!
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