Strawberry Shortcake

Mmmm, strawberry shortcake. I've been dying to make this since I saw the recipe posted on The Art of Being Perfect. Of course, things being what they are in my kitchen, I had issues with one of the key ingredients -- the strawberries. I'm pretty sure strawberries aren't in season anymore, and there was no way the sad, wrinkled specimens on display in my local grocery store were going into my shortcake. Fortunately, I had a big bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that that particular bag of frozen strawberries had thawed then re-frozen into one big red mess a few months ago.

So, instead of adorning my cake with fat, juicy strawberries, I found myself hacking at the big red ice block for pieces of fruit to cook down into preserves. Strawberry shortcake is still strawberry shortcake if the strawberries are syrupy, right?

(The cream is melting because I spooned the strawberries on while hot.)

Technically correct or not, this was the most delicious dessert I've eaten in a long time. The cake was light and fluffy, with a pleasant vanilla flavor accentuated by the sweet, fresh whipped cream. And the strawberry preserves? Perfect! The cooking really brought out the natural flavor of the fruit, and produced an intensely strawberry-flavored syrup that saturated the light cake with deliciousness. YUM. Definitely a must-try.

Recipe can be found here, courtesy of The Art of Being Perfect.

** Just a quick note about the recipe -- I couldn't find self-rising flour at the store, so I had to look up a substitute. 1 cup of self-rising flour = 1 cup all purpose + 1-1/4 tsp baking powder + 1/8 tsp salt.