New England Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

It’s June again, and in New England that only means one thing — juicy, ripe strawberries and plates of strawberry shortcake at strawberry festivals and dinner tables from Maine to Connecticut. A few years ago I made my first batch of old-fashioned Summer Strawberry Shortcake but this time around I wanted to go the old-fashioned strawberry shortcake route by shaping the shortcake into one large cake rather than individual ones. This recipe for Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake is the real deal. Let’s start with a quart of fresh, seasonal strawberries.

After slicing and sugaring the berries, I got to work on the shortcake. It’s made pretty much made the same way as scones (adding cold butter and milk into a dough made from flour, sugar, baking powder, and a pinch of salt), but instead of cutting the dough into individual portions I lightly pressed it into a greased pie pan. While it baked I whipped the cream. Again — canned whip cream is easier, but if you take an extra few minutes to whip your own cream with a little sugar and vanilla extract, you’ll be handsomely rewarded.

I cut a wedge of shortcake, split it, and topped it with the sweetened berries and whipped cream. Now THIS is what summer is supposed to taste like! Make a batch while the berries are ripe and I promise you won’t regret it.

Do you look forward to old-fashioned strawberry shortcake each summer? This post was first published in 2012 and has been updated. 

GET THE RECIPE: Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake Recipe