How to Make Basic, Easy Strawberry Shortcake

There are several options for the cake in strawberry shortcake.

After spending hours in the sun at the U-pick strawberry place, you may return sweaty and triumphant with gallons of strawberries ready to be used in elegant strawberry shortcake. A traditional summer recipe, strawberry shortcake is made from sugared strawberries, a white cake or biscuit, and whipped cream. Pure, simple and well worth it.

Things You'll Need

• Strawberries (32 oz is about right)
• One angel food cake
• 3 to 4 tbsp. brown sugar
• Container or bowl with Saran Wrap
• Real whipping cream
• Mixer
• Regular sugar
• Lemon juice (optional, as needed)
• Colander

Instructions

1. Pour the strawberries into a colander. Wash thoroughly. Core them and slice them in two. Toss into a large bowl.

2. Add 2 or 3 tbsp. of brown sugar to the strawberries and gently mix. The berries should be nicely coated. If not, add more. Add a little lemon juice to draw out the juices of the strawberries. Lots of berry juice is good.

3. Cover with Saran Wrap. Let the bowl sit for at least 3 to 4 hours in the fridge. If you need to shorten the time, leave it on the counter. The warmth will speed up the process.

4. About 5 minutes before you're ready to serve, make the whipped cream. Pour the cream in the mixer, with the whisk attachment on if you have a choice. Turn the mixer on low; gradually increase speed. Add a few tablespoons of regular sugar. Taste. Add more sugar if needed. Turn on the beaters to high to finish whipping the cream. It will be done when the peaks are stiff.

5. Cut a slice of cake. Only cut what you need because angel food cake dries out extremely quickly. Put your slice in a bowl or plate. Then pour several ladelfuls of strawberries on top. Make sure to get plenty of juice. Top with a generous helping of whipped cream. Serve immediately.

Tips & Warnings

• The discussion of the best cake for strawberry shortcake is one for the ages. Traditionally, it is served on kind of a sweet biscuit, but unless you have the right recipe, the juice can reduce the biscuit into a doughy mass. Pound cake is good but too heavy, and over too quickly. The spongecake cups you get in the grocery store are fine but lack that certain something. Angel food cake keeps the strawberry shortcake light, moist and wonderful. It absorbs juice in a way that elevates it to the sublime.

• For that special evening, you can cut circles of cake and layer the ingredients in tall stemmed glasses to make a parfait.

• Do make the whipped cream as close as you can to serving. Saved homemade whipped cream can lose its consistency. It forms messy puddles and tends to slump when spooned out. This is fine at midnight when you're eating it out of the Tupperware, but not when you have your in-laws over and want to impress them with your amazing dessert.