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Dessert

Stawberry Shortbread

A shortbread cake with layers of dough and sweetened mashed strawberries, served with cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Stawberry Shortbread

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Rub the lard or butter into the flour, then add the baking powder and a pinch of salt.

  3. Moisten the mixture with milk to form a soft dough.

  4. Divide the dough into four parts and roll out one part lightly.

Layer and bake

  1. Cover the bottom of a straight‑sided cake tin with the rolled dough.

  2. Roll out another part and place it on top of the first layer in the tin.

  3. Repeat with the remaining two parts using another tin.

  4. Bake until golden, then lift the top layer from each tin while hot.

Fill and serve

  1. Butter the inner surface of the top layers and fill with mashed, sweetened strawberries.

  2. Serve immediately with cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the main structure of the dough once moistened and baked.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the shortbread rises and becomes lighter.
Lard or butter
Rubbed into the flour to tenderise the dough and add richness.
Milk
Hydrates the flour so the mixture binds into a soft dough.
Fresh strawberries
Provide fruity moisture and sweetness to fill the baked layers.

The step that matters

Lift the top layer while hot. Baked shortbread firms as it cools and can crack or stick to the tin, so it should be lifted out while still hot and pliable.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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