Strawberry Shortcake Forever

Saucyman, I have the strawberries, now what exactly is shortcake? - Holly Hobbie

Shortcake is not one legally defined, specific thing. Made in the home kitchen, shortcakes run on the dry side, resembling more of a sweet scone or biscuit. Bought in the store, shortcake is cakey-ier, moist and spongy, on occasion packaged and looking suspiciously like a twinkie. Despite the dissimilar appearance, both homemade and store-bought shortcakes are legit, thanks to the eponymous ingredient, shortening.

Like a shortcake, shortening isn’t one particular thing – it can be butter, animal fat, vegetable shortening or even ingredients like cheese, sour cream, cream cheese. Shortening is better defined by what it does: It shortens the composite wheat protein known as gluten. Gluten, besides being the current dietary bogeyman, is the backbone of baked goods; it is formed when two separate wheat proteins, glaidin and glutenin are mixed with water, creating long strands of protein. Prolonged mixing/kneading forms these long strands into a matrix of elastic chains that trap air and give body and lift to baked goods.

A chemist, food scientist or a tradesman like a baker would be able to explain shortening with precise technical sophistication…I am going to go with a simile here, likening shortening to our corporeal selves - If we work our muscles, take in plenty of water and get long periods of rest, we would be like gluten - long, strong and lean; able to bounce back quickly from stress and trauma. Instead if we were to absorb fats to the point of saturation and consciously shorten our workout times as to not to get overly conditioned, we would be on the rollie-pollie side of things, slow to recover, easily malleable – soft in form and probably in spirit. This is why bread dough bounces back when you poke it with a finger and cookie dough, the ultimate shortened food, would just remain dented, lethargic and indifferent to getting poked.

Shortening, be it animal, vegetable or butter coats gluten, inhibiting its development: The flour protein never develops long interconnected strands that would form a chewy bread-like loaf texture, Instead, the proteins are coated, shortened in length and as a result shortcake’s consistency is tender and soft. This is true for biscuit/scone type of shortcake and it is true for the sponge cake type of shortcake.

Biscuit style shortcakes are pretty traditional and as an added bonus are quick and easy to make. Personally, I like a little cake in my shortcake and I will go with a butter-rich pound cake or the easiest cake to make in the world, an Angel Food Cake. Even though Angel Food is great cake with strawberries – soaking up the juice and offering a nice contrast to the whipped cream that generally accompanies strawberry shortcake, Angel Food Cake is pretty much fat free, so it is definitely not a shortcake, just a cake and not really under the purview of this inquiry.