For those of you who are having a problem with the baking powder taste it is probably because you are using baking powders that contain aluminum. Baking powders that don't contain aluminum sulfate in the ingredient list usually don't have that after taste. Rumford is the only major brand that I know of that doesn't contain aluminum.
I also changed the recipe as others - reduced the baking powder to 2 tsps.- changed the shortening to butter and increased it to 1/2 cup - increased the sugar to 1/4 cup and added 1 tsp. vanilla extract. I also used half&half milk for a richer taste. This recipe is the old-fashioned version of short cake. It has a taste very much like scones. I hope these suggestions help others - put all your dry ingredients in a bowl and use a whisk to blend the ingredients. Have your butter at room temperature. I used a wired pastry blender to mix - the texture will be "fine" & feathery - not coarse. Make a well and add your wet ingredients and combine just until they come together. As with any biscuit recipe you don't want to over work it or your dough gets tough. I "floured" my hands with confectioner sugar and separated my dough into 8 equal mounds -then rolled each mound in the powdered sugar and fashioned into a biscuit. I allowed an inch around each biscuit as they will get larger as they bake. This recipe will make 8 "catshead" (large) biscuits. For the BEST whip cream - use heavy (or whipping) cream - to 2 cups heavy cream add 1 tsp. vanilla ext. and during the whipping add 1/2 cup powdered sugar. I made 55 shortcakes for a ladies lunch - Big Success!
Do reduce the baking powder to 2 tsp. This is a dry shortcake, but I think many of the people who were disappointed in it expected a sponge-cake-like shortcake, instead of the biscuit variety. These are supposed to be dryer, and get their moisture from the strawberry juice and whipped cream served with them.
This was AMAZING!! I did deviate somewhat from the recipe though. I took the advice of some other reviews and used 1/4 c. sugar in the batter, used 1/2 c butter instead of the shortening, added vanilla to the batter, and used 2 1/2 tsp instead of 4 tsp of baking powder. Instead of a whole cake, I made individual sized cakes (like big biscuits) and baked them on a greased/floured baking sheet for 12-13 minutes. I even sprinkled each of the mini cakes with a cinnamon & sugar mixture! We then prepared them as the recipes says! Such a hit and so easy to make!
Out of this world! I made this for my wife's birthday and it was a huge hit. I cut the baking power to 2 tsp like other folks and upped the shortening to 1/2 cup as I wasn't getting the "course crumbs". A local farm makes and sells terrific shortcake bicuits when their strawberries come out in June. This cake is exactly like those biscuits and I can have them anytime! I had no problem with crumbling maybe because of the increased shortening. As for folks substituting butter and adding vanilla try it according to the recipe first. The problem I've found with many "shortcakes" is that they try to be center of taste and just end up overpowering the finsihed product. Also I have no 8" pie pans but I do have an 8" spring-form pan. Worked out great. This is a keeper! Enjoy!
Anyone who is the slighest bit interested in eating shortcake, had better eat this CAKE!!! It was almost as if heaven itself entered my mouth upon every single bite. Not to exaggerate, but Denyse is either a Goddess, or this recipe was personally hand delivered to her front door step by Hermes himself. If it were possible to give this recipe a 47 out of 5 star review, believe me, I would have jumped at the chance. Please let me know if there are any other recipe's on here by Denyse because frankly....I would live in her kitchen and never leave if I knew her. I believe I speak for everyone with functioning taste buds when I say 3 Cheers Denyse!!!
Best ever Strawberry shortcake Recipe!!! I used 2T instead of 4T of baking powder, 1/4cup sugar instead of just 2 spoons of sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. I still can't make it uncrumbly but this is still good. I prefer this over some imitation overly sweetened version. The texture is thick and dense against the sweet soft strawberries and whip cream. It's perfect. If someone was use to the imitation version or not use to the biscuit style that would explain the "anything but 5 star rating". You have to bake this!!
Excellent! I made mine in muffin top tins for individual shortcakes.
What a great recipe! Made a couple of changes:
Instead of shortbread, we used mashed potatoes.
Instead of strawberries, we used some braised lamb shanks with a delicious gravy.
We added a layer of creamed spinach and some boiled carrots, and baked the whole thing together for about 45 minutes.
Everyone agreed that this was the best strawberry shortcake ever!
I altered the recipe as the other users suggested, using 1/4cup sugar instead of 2tsb and 2tsp of baking powder instead of 4. The cake smelt great and had a good spring to it, but tasted really bland. Could be the shortening, I'd try this with butter the next round and maybe a little vanilla.
