every summer growing up my mom and i would go to the local farmers market on a weekly basis. if i were lucky, i mean REAL lucky, she would let me pick up one of my favourite desserts from the bakery; strawberry shortcake. now this wasn't a typical strawberry shortcake made with a vanilla biscuit, oh no. it was thin layers of moist vanilla chiffon cake, fresh strawberry jam and whipped cream. it is still one of the best shortcakes i've ever had. i have yet to be able to recreate it in its entirety, but i have made a lot of strawberry shortcakes since and this one is pretty damn good. i decided to make one for my mom for mother's day this year, for memories sake and because my mom loves strawberry shortcake too.. like mother like daughter.
ingredients
for the cake
- 1.5 cups pastry flour
- 1 cup raw sugar
- 2/3 tablespoon baking powder
- 2/3 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 egg yolks
- 5 egg whites
for the whipped cream
- 1.5 cups cold whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1.5 pints strawberries, sliced thin.
directions
- preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- in a mixing bowl sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- in a separate bowl beat milk, oil, vanilla, and egg yolks.
- add flour mixture to wet ingredients until combined.
- in the bowl of a stand mixer whip egg whites to medium peaks. fold whipped egg whites in gently to cake batter (do not deflate the whites too much)
- evenly separate batter into two greased 8 inch baking dishes. bake for 20-25 minutes.
- once the cakes have fully cooled, flip them out of the baking dish and carefully slice them in half.
- make your whipping cream by beating cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.
- assemble shortcake starting with a layer of cake, whipped cream and strawberry slices, repeat 4 times.