Cherry Shortcake

I loved Strawberry Shortcake – the cartoon character – when I was little, and even think I’ve eaten the real deal (the cake, not a plastic figurine) once. But I’ve never made it. A girlfriend recently dropped over a bag of delicious cherries she’d picked and I thought – well, that could work!

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups of self-raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
75 g butter, chilled
1/4 cup milk
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 egg, lightly whisked
A giant handful of pitted cherries (enough to cover the cake)
3/4 cup thickened cream
1/4 cup of sour cream
1/4 cup strawberry jam

Method

1. Pre-heat over to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Sift flour into a bowl and add all the sugar, bar 1 tbs, and mix. Grate the butter into the mixture and use fingertips to rub together until mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
3. Combine the milk, egg yolks and half the vanilla in a bowl. Make a well in centre of the flour mixture and add wet ingredients. Stir until just combined and turn onto a floured board and knead until smooth. Shape into a 15cm or so disk and put into a lined baking tray.
4. Brush with whisked egg and sprinkle a little extra sugar on top.
5. Bake for 20-25 min and then put aside to cool.
6. Beat the cream and reserved vanilla and sugar from earlier in a bowl until firm peaks form. Add the sour cream.
7. Cut the cake in half horizontally. Spread over jam, top with cream and then cherries. Place top half of cake back on.

Notes

1. Okay, so. Let’s forget the bad (yes, I know it’s bad) picture for a moment. This didn’t work. It went wrong right at the off when I used plain flour instead of self-raising (in my defense, someone had mixed the canisters up). The cake mixture wouldn’t knead properly either, I think I accidentally put in too much milk.
2. But it still tasted fine. The kids ate it. The sour cream / cherry combo tasted really nice. I’d have to have another proper crack at this though to give a proper verdict.