Strawberry Spoon Cake

Strawberry Spoon Cake

This unfussy cake with a top layer of jammy strawberries is so gooey it’s best to serve the whole thing with a spoon. The batter comes together quickly with minimal effort, using basic pantry ingredients and a small handful of berries — frozen or fresh. If you’re using frozen, be sure to defrost them in the microwave first. Extract as much juice as possible from the fruit by macerating and mashing it, so that it lends the cake additional moisture while baking. Add a dash of freshly ground cardamom or ground ginger on top before baking it off, if you like, or some ribbons of fresh basil once it’s hot out of the oven. Whatever embellishments you decide on, burrowing warm spoonfuls of this cake beside scoops of vanilla ice cream is the most important thing.

Yield: 4 servings

½ cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), melted, plus more for greasing

5 ounces/145 grams frozen and thawed or fresh, hulled strawberries (about 1 cup)

⅔ cup/150 grams packed light brown sugar

½ cup/120 milliliters whole milk, at room temperature

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup/130 grams all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8-inch (square or round) baking dish with butter. Set aside.

Using your hands or the back of a fork, mash the berries to release all their juices, and stir in ⅓ cup of the brown sugar. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, remaining ⅓ cup brown sugar, milk and salt, then add the flour and baking powder and continue whisking just until the batter is smooth. Transfer the batter (it’s not much) to the greased baking dish, and spread evenly into corners.

Spoon the strawberries and all their juices over the top of the cake batter. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or just when a toothpick comes out clean in the center. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3 to 5 minutes before spooning into bowls. Serve warm with ice cream.

TIP: I’ve made versions of this recipe before; it’s basically a clafouti, a French cake. The first version I made years ago was from a Jane Brody cookbook. Any fruit is good in it. I’ve used blueberries, tart cherries, peaches and strawberries, solo or mixed together.

Double Strawberry Shortcakes

Double Strawberry Shortcakes - Melissa Clark

With fresh berries in both the filling and the biscuits, these strawberry shortcakes double up on the fruit, making them especially juicy. To keep the shortcakes from turning soggy, the berries are briefly macerated before baking, which keeps them from weeping into the pastry. Poppy seeds add a slight nutty crunch, but you can leave them out if you prefer. Bake the shortcakes up to eight hours ahead, but, for the best texture, don’t layer them with the cream and berries until serving.

Yield: 6 shortcakes

For the Shortcakes

4 ounces/1 cup fresh strawberries, trimmed and sliced ¼-inch thick

4 tablespoons/50 grams granulated sugar

1¾ cups/230 grams all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon poppy seeds, plus more for topping

½ teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt

½ cup/113 grams unsalted butter, cubed

Buttermilk, as needed

For Serving

8 ounces/2 cups fresh strawberries, trimmed and sliced

1 to 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Whipped cream

In a small bowl, macerate the berries: Gently toss the strawberries with 1 tablespoon sugar and set aside for 30 minutes or until the berries are juicy and bright red.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, remaining 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds. Add butter. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, work the butter into the flour until the mixture is mealy with pea-size butter pieces. While the strawberries macerate, put the flour and butter mixture in the freezer to chill.

After the strawberries have released their liquid, use a slotted spoon to carefully transfer them to a clean kitchen towel or paper towel, and dab off any excess liquid. Pour strawberry liquid into a measuring cup and add enough buttermilk to make ⅓ cup.

Add the drained strawberries to the chilled flour mixture and toss with your fingers or a fork to incorporate.

Pour in buttermilk mixture and gently toss until the dough is evenly damp and shaggy, being careful not to overmix. Turn the shaggy dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and pat it into a rough 5-by-4-inch rectangle that’s 1½ inches tall (it will look small, but will rise a lot in the oven). Cut through the dough into 6 even pieces but don’t separate the shortcakes. (This makes them easier to store.) Wrap well with plastic and place in the freezer for at least 45 minutes and up to 2 weeks.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Remove dough from the freezer. Use a knife to separate the shortcakes (you may have to cut all the way through the dough again) and place on a lined baking tray at least 1½ inches apart. Brush tops with buttermilk and sprinkle with more poppy seeds.

Put the shortcakes in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake for 22 to 30 minutes until the shortcakes are golden brown on the tops and bottoms. Transfer to a rack to cool.

To serve, in a medium bowl, toss together berries and sugar and let macerate for at least 15 minutes and up to 4 hours (store in the fridge if keeping longer than an hour). Halve the shortcakes crosswise, and fill with whipped cream and syrupy berries.

TIP: 

I discovered that if I macerate berries in brown sugar instead of white sugar, the flavor is exponentially better. More berry-y. Deeper, more interesting.

I made these today, as follows:

1. I froze the stick of butter, then grated it using a cheese grater.

2. My dough was a bit dry, so I added another teaspoon of buttermilk to it. After letting the liquids soak into the dry ingredients for a few minutes, I was able to form the dough and freeze it.

3. I agree with other posters - the dough could have used a pinch of salt. I'll add it next time.

4. Lastly, the shortcakes were baked at 400 degrees and were finished in 23 minutes.

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake 

There's a kind of magic in a summer recipe that you can make wherever you are, provided that wherever you are has, say, flour, butter, an oven and whatever fruit is most glorious is at that very moment. This strawberry shortcake is so simple that you can make it within the hour, and so satisfying that it may become your go-to for summer, the recipe you keep in your back pocket. Strawberries are the classic choice, but this would also be heavenly in high summer with very ripe peaches or any other juicy, macerated fruit. 

Yield: 4 generous servings

2 pints ripe, well-rinsed strawberries

½ cup sugar, or more to taste

4 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

5 teaspoons baking powder

1¼ cups butter

3 cups whipping cream

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Pick over and hull strawberries. Cut in half or slice, depending on size. Gently crush about a quarter of the berries with a fork to release their juices. Mix with remaining berries and the ½ cup of sugar, adding more sugar if necessary. Set aside, covered, for about half an hour to develop flavor.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Into a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, salt and baking powder. Add ¾ cup of softened butter, and rub into dry ingredients as for pastry. Add 1¼ cups cream, and mix to a soft dough. Knead the dough for one minute on a lightly floured pastry board, then roll it out to about ½-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut an even number of rounds - 2 rounds per serving.

Use a little of the butter to grease a baking sheet. Place half the rounds on it. Melt remaining butter and brush a little on the rounds; place remaining rounds on top. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven, and pull shortcakes apart. Brush the insides with some of the remaining melted butter.

Beat remaining cream until it thickens. Add vanilla. Beat again just until thick.

Place a bottom half of a shortcake on each plate. Top with a generous spoonful of cream and berries. Cover with a top half, add a few more berries, and top with whipped cream. Serve immediately.

Tip

Extra shortcakes may be frozen, but they should be warmed before using. They are also good toasted for breakfast or tea.

At 450, the bottoms started burning well before the insides of the biscuits were cooked. We lowered to baking temperature to 375, and things turned out well. So I'd suggest adjusting the baking temperature in this recipe.

I always use brown sugar to macerate strawberries. Deepens the berry flavor and the resulting juice is more intense. Reduce measure by half.

FYI. In the NY Times Cookbook by Craig Claiborne, copyright 1961, it calls for adding a bit of sour cream to the whipped cream. It is a fantastic addition. The sour cream puts a bit of weight to the cream making it richer. Also, I suggest putting some of the whipped cream inside the "sandwich" and more on the top.

This is a great shortcake recipe. I questioned it while I was making it, but it works! I used the food processor to cut in the butter because it was too cold, then switched to fingers to finish blending it in. When I added the cream, I thought it was never going to come together, but that minute's worth of kneading did the trick. I have other recipes for biscuits, but this is what I'll be using from now on. Crisp, short and delicious.