Heart-Shaped Strawberry Shortcakes
- Sweet
- Oven
Tender oven-baked shortcakes split and filled with macerated strawberries and softly whipped cream. A sweet, fruity Valentine's treat made for two.
- Total
- 59 min
- Prep 25 · Cook 19 · Rest 15
- Serves
- 2
- Difficulty
- Medium
You'll practice: Whisking · Folding
Instructions
-
Heat the oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
~10 min
-
Melt 50 g of the butter and let it cool slightly. Whisk the egg with 30 g of the sugar and the salt until pale, then stir in the melted butter and 30 ml water.
~5 min
Whisking the egg and sugar until pale aerates the mixture, and cooling the butter stops it from cooking the egg.
Whisking Whisk in a steady circular motion, lifting the whisk to pull in air; stop the cream at soft peaks so it stays billowy rather than grainy.
-
Fold the flour into the wet mixture until a soft dough forms. Turn it onto a lightly floured surface, roll to about 2 cm thick, and cut out 4 hearts with the cookie cutter, re-rolling scraps once.
~8 min
Folding gently and handling the dough little keeps the gluten from over-developing, so the shortcakes bake up tender rather than tough.
Handle the dough as little as possible and keep it 2 cm thick so the shortcakes stay tender rather than tough.
Folding Use a spatula to cut down and lift the flour over the wet mix, turning the bowl as you go, and stop as soon as no dry flour remains.
-
Place the hearts on the lined tray, brush the tops with the remaining 10 g melted butter and bake until golden and set, 15 to 18 minutes.
~18 min
The butter wash browns the tops and adds richness, while the golden colour signals the crumb has set.
-
While step 4 cooks
While the shortcakes bake, hull and slice the strawberries, toss them with 10 g of the sugar and set aside to soften.
~5 min
The sugar draws juice out of the strawberries by osmosis, softening them into a syrupy maceration that soaks into the shortcake.
-
While step 4 cooks
Whip the cream with the remaining 5 g sugar until soft peaks form, then chill.
~4 min
Whipping incorporates air into the cream, and chilling keeps it firm and stable until serving.
Whisking Whisk in a steady circular motion, lifting the whisk to pull in air; stop the cream at soft peaks so it stays billowy rather than grainy.
-
Let the shortcakes cool on the tray for 15 minutes, then split each heart horizontally.
~15 min
Cooling lets the crumb firm up so the shortcakes split cleanly without crumbling.
-
Spoon whipped cream and strawberries onto the bottom halves, replace the tops and serve with the remaining strawberries.
~3 min
