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Dessert

Strawberry Shortcake

A layered cake with buttered crusts, strawberries, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Strawberry Shortcake

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.

Make the dough

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

  2. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.

  3. Add melted butter and mix until combined.

  4. Divide the dough into three pieces and roll each out to ½ inch thick, the size of your pans.

Layer and bake

  1. Place the first crust in a round jelly cake pan.

  2. Spread the first crust with melted butter.

  3. Add the second crust.

  4. Butter the second crust well.

  5. Add the third crust on top.

  6. Bake in the oven until golden brown.

Assemble and serve

  1. Once baked, carefully lift the crusts.

  2. Butter each layer again.

  3. Layer strawberries on the bottom crust.

  4. Cover with another crust.

  5. Add more strawberries.

  6. Serve with whipped cream and sugar.

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

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

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the crusts as its proteins and starches set when baked.
Unsalted butter
Adds richness and tenderness to the crusts and helps keep them moist.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the crusts rise and stay light.
Strawberries
Add sweetness, juice and fresh fruit flavor between the layers.
Heavy cream
Adds richness and a soft, airy texture when whipped for serving.
Sugar
Sweetens the dish and balances the tartness of the strawberries.

The step that matters

Carefully lift the crusts once baked. Freshly baked shortcake crusts are hot and fragile, and they crumble or crack easily. Letting them firm slightly before lifting helps keep the layers intact.

“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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