A few weeks ago, some of the children Roy knows asked him if he knew who 'Strawberry Shortcake' was. Roy is of course familiar with the character, but also with the dessert and when the children discovered that she was named after a real cake, they wanted to find out exactly what a strawberry shortcake was. Roy knew what a strawberry shortcake was, in theory, but had never made one. Luckily his Aunties Jeanette and Sue make fantastic shortcake and were willing to share the recipe. So this week, Roy Creates Yummy Strawberry Shortcake.
You Will Need
For The Shortcake
Note: you can make half of this amount and make a single layer cake or split into two very thin layers. The amount below makes a tall cake which is easy to split.
- 250 grams of butter or margarine
- 250 grams of caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 500 grams of self raising flour
For The Filling
- 300 millilitres of whipping Cream
- Vanilla essence to taste
- 1 dessertspoon of castor sugar
- Strawberries, washed, dried, hulled and sliced
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and prepare an 8 inch tin with a circle of baking paper on the base
- In a bowl, mix together the sugar and flour
- In another, microwave proof bowl, carefully melt the butter in the microwave, being careful not to burn it.
- In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg to break it up
- When the butter has cooled off a bit, whisk in the egg. If you are worried about the butter being too hot and scrambling the egg, drizzle a little of the warm butter into the egg (beating all the time) and then drizzle the egg into the butter slowly (again, beating all the time). Roy suggests ask a friend to drizzle the egg in slowly while you mix quickly.
- Add the butter and egg to the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Press into the tin, prick all over with a fork, sprinkle with a little castor sugar and bake for 45 minutes or until cooked. Test as you would any cake (poke a skewer in, and if it comes out clean it is cooked)
- Cool the cake completely
- When the cake is cold, split it in half
- Whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla
- Spread half the strawberries over the bottom layer
- Cover the strawberries with half the cream and put the top piece back on (the cream also helps the 'lid' stick)
- Cover the top of the cake with the rest of the cream and decorate with the leftover strawberries.
- Enjoy!