Giant Strawberry Shortcakes

Your seasonal reminder to make this summer classic.

Hi Bakers!

When I want Strawberry Shortcakes, I want them anything but ‘short.’ With something this simple, I want heaps of juicy strawberries, a mound of soft cream and colossal shortcakes. Save your dainty biscuits for tea parties, because this recipe is meant to be devoured. 

Summer desserts should highlight fresh fruit in all its glory, be simply prepared with fuss-free assembly, and be served to friends and family at their leisure. If you are hosting house guests or needing to bring a simple dessert to a potluck or cookout, then often a casual, fruit-forward dish is just what you need. Strawberry Shortcakes are not exactly new or unique, but consider this your seasonal reminder to make this dish on repeat.

Your biscuits will only get better with practice, and a good shortcake recipe is one to keep on rotation throughout the season. Include it in your summer meal prep and serve just as easily for breakfast with yogurt and any fresh fruit you have on hand, as a trifle with custard or whipped cream, or even with ice cream and sugared berries.

Feel free to swap out the strawberries for stone fruit as summer progresses, but since strawberries are in peak season right now, that’s what we will start with today.

I wanted to give you a fresh, new take on shortcakes, but sometimes classics come down to good technique and fresh ingredients.

Instead of messing with flavors in the cream and other additions in the biscuits, let’s concentrate on creating a solid, supremely flaky biscuit, the softest clouds of cream, and the juiciest, ripest strawberries you can find.

Making the Shortcakes:

Shortcakes get their name from the technique used to create their flaky layers, not because they are meant to be flat. I start my shortcakes using the same process as making a short crust pastry dough - by hand and with super cold butter. Smash the butter into a mixture of flour, sugar, and baking powder, then take small handfuls of the dough and smear it between your palms to create small, flat sheets of flour-coated butter.

After the buttermilk is added and the dough comes together, press it into place with the palms of your hands instead of stirring or kneading. Fold the dough onto itself then flatten. Do this several times to create layers of flaky dough. Use a bench scraper to shape the dough into a rectangle before cutting into pieces. 

Some shortcakes are round, but I prefer rectangles so you don’t have to work and reshape the extra dough. Over-mixing the dough will create a tougher biscuit. And don’t make the mistake of flattening them too much; you want the shortcakes to be at least 1-inch tall before baking. 

Clouds of Cream:

In this case, you will want sweetened cream that is whipped just enough that it has some body and clings to the tip of the whisk. We don’t need it stiff like for icing a cake, but thickened to billowy clouds of spoonable cream. I added a dollop of sour cream and vanilla extract for an extra creamy, slightly tangy flavor that pairs so wonderfully with the sweet strawberries.

Consider whisking the cream by hand in a large, cold bowl. This way, you can see and feel the cream turn from a liquid to a fluffy consistency. If you over-whip, just stir in a couple more tablespoons of cream (if it is grainy or lumpy, you’ve gone too far).

Use the ripest fruit you can find. Strawberries are classic here, but as the later summer months arrive, opt for juicy peaches, plump blackberries, sliced plums or soft, ripe figs.  

To make the most of your strawberries, macerate them in sugar first. By sprinkling fresh sliced strawberries with a little sugar, they will soften and release some of their juices to make their own sauce.

For Serving:

The more whipped cream and strawberries you stack within the shortcake, the tastier but also more likely that it will tower over. And that’s okay! It will make it more fun and easier to eat anyways. Swipe layers of shortcake through any puddles of cream and spoon fallen strawberries onto each bite.

You can stack your shortcakes before serving, or set out a platter of biscuits and heaping bowls of puffy whipped cream and saucy strawberries. I love the fanfare of slicing a celebration cake, but equally enjoy a more help-yourself vibe. Embrace the care-free serving situation if you wish, and instead concentrate on your pastry technique for ultimate flaky shortcakes.