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Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8 - 10

Ingredients

  • 6 large eggs room temperature
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 cup flour twice sifted
  • butter for the jelly roll pan
  • 2 pints strawberries
  • 2 tablespoons honey or 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons orange marmalade optional
  • cups red wine or real fruit juice
  • 1 cup heavy cream whipped to soft peak, sweetened with sugar if desired

Instructions

  • Butter the jelly roll pan. Place a piece of parchment in the pan, spread it flat to coat the paper with butter. Invert the paper so it's buttered on the cake side, and line the pan with the buttered side up.
  • Beat the whole eggs, sugar, and a pinch of salt until the eggs increase in volume two and a half times.
  • Sift a third of the flour on top of the egg/sugar base, and fold gently to incorporate the flour. Try to make it happen in a dozen folds so you don't over fold. Add the next third, and fold again. Add the final third of sifted flour, and fold once more.
  • Pour the batter carefully into the cake pan, and tilt the pan to get the batter into the corners, rather than spreading with a spatula. The spatula will only flatten all the air bubbles you made by beating the eggs and sugar, and those bubbles are what make the cake go high.
  • The person incorporating the flour with the least number of strokes gets the highest and lightest cake. They win the church bake-off.
  • Bake the cake in a 350°F oven for 18 minutes until golden. When you touch your finger to the top of the cake, it should spring back without leaving an impression of your finger. If it doesn't spring back, return the cake to the oven for a couple more minutes.
  • Run a knife around the edge of the cake pan. Lift a corner of the cake, grab hold of the paper. Hold the other end of the cake pan, and pull the cake onto the counter.
  • Spread orange marmalade evenly and lightly over the entire surface of the cake. With the cake lengthwise in front of you, grab the paper under the top of the cake, tug and fold an inch of the cake over the top of the cake. Then, pulling on the paper, roll the cake into what you'd recognize as a jelly roll.
  • Re-wrap in the paper, and set on a cake rack to cool. Take a deep breath and open the red wine. Sample if necessary, just to see if it's drinkable.
  • While the cake bakes, slice the strawberries. Add the honey and the orange marmalade, and stir. Let the berries sit for 30 minutes. Five minutes before serving, add the wine to the strawberries and juice.
  • Whip the cream to soft peaks. Add sugar to the cream as desired, or sprinkle that same amount
  • To prepare the dish, slice an inch-thick piece of cake and set it in a flat soup bowl. Spoon generous amount of strawberries and juice (there is no point in having leftovers), and top them with whipped cream.
  • Go passed "GO". Collect pleasure. - Robert Reynolds