Pic of Strawberry shortcake

Strawberry shortcake

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Strawberry shortcake

Pudding & Cake Serves 8 50 min
Both light and rich, shortcake is perfectly complementary to crème fraîche and strawberries. Whipped cream is good in place of crème fraîche (and more traditional), but it gives an unadulteratedly sweet finish – so take your pick. A little later in the season, try this with raspberries and poached peaches for a Melba-style shortcake.

Ingredients

  • 120g plain flour
  • 60g cornflour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 100g softened butter, diced
  • 2 egg yolks
  • drop vanilla extract
  • 350g strawberries
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar
  • juice of 1 orange
  • 200ml crème fraîche
  • icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Prep time: 20 min
Cooking time: 30 min

  • Step 1

    Preheat oven to 160°C/Gas 3.

  • Step 2

    First make the shortcake. Sift the flour, cornflour and baking powder into a bowl and stir in the sugar.

  • Step 3

    Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

  • Step 4

    Stir in the egg yolks and vanilla and bring the mixture together into a dough.

  • Step 5

    On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 5mm thick and cut it into eight 9cm rounds.

  • Step 6

    Place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake in an oven preheated for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and leave to cool

  • Step 7

    Purée 150g of the strawberries with the sugar and orange juice. Pass the purée through a fine sieve if you prefer a smoother finish

  • Step 8

    Slice the remaining strawberries.

  • Step 9

    Put a shortcake biscuit on each of 4 plates, put a dollop of crème fraîche on top, then add the sliced strawberries and some strawberry sauce. Place the remaining biscuits on top, sift over a little icing sugar and serve.