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Dessert

Strawberry Short Cake

A light cake with layers of buttered dough, strawberries, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Strawberry Short Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the dough

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

  2. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar, then sift twice.

  3. Work in the butter with your fingertips and gradually add the milk.

  4. Toss the dough on a floured surface, divide into two parts, and pat and roll out.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake the two layers, placing butter between them.

  2. Once cool, slice the layers open with a knife.

  3. Sweeten the strawberries to taste, crush slightly, and place between and on top of the shortcake.

Make the whipped cream and serve

  1. For the whipped cream, combine the thick cream and ¼ cup milk, then beat until stiff.

  2. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla to the whipped cream and mix well.

  3. Serve immediately.

  4. The whipped cream can be omitted, and other fruits can be used.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 structure of the shortcake layers as its proteins set in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas when heated, lifting the dough into light, tender layers.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness, and separates the layers as it melts during baking.
Milk
Hydrates the flour to form a dough and adds moisture and softness to the shortcake.
Thick cream
Whips into a stable foam that adds richness and a light texture to the topping.
Strawberries
Provide tart flavour and juicy moisture that contrasts with the rich shortcake.

The step that matters

Work the butter in with your fingertips before adding the milk. Keeping the butter in small cold pieces creates layers and a tender crumb, while overworking the dough develops gluten and makes the shortcake tough.

“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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