Marie Frank’s strawberry shortcakes. Photograph: Beca B Jones/The Guardian. Food styling: El Kemp. Prop styling: Florence Blair and Louie Waller. Food styling assistant: Caitlin Macdonald. View image in fullscreen Marie Frank’s strawberry shortcakes. Photograph: Beca B Jones/The Guardian. Food styling: El Kemp. Prop styling: Florence Blair and Louie Waller. Food styling assistant: Caitlin Macdonald. Food Marie Frank’s recipes for strawberry shortcakes and cardenales with apricot compote Not a ‘cake person’? Loaded with fruit and whipped cream, these luxurious pastries are sure to hit your sweet spot
Prefer the Guardian on Google S trawberry, or any berry, shortcakes are the perfect dessert to make for those in your life who are not cake people. I’m married to a “not cake” person, so I would know. For me, the contrast between the salty, slightly warm shortcake (which is more like a biscuit), whipped cream and macerated fresh fruit is perfection, and hits enough of the sweet spots still to feel like a dessert without actually being cakey. But, first, the cardenal, a truly elegant, light-as-a-feather cake that’s made with alternating rings of genoise sponge and meringue all sandwiched with whipped cream. Though the building blocks are simple – meringue, sponge and cream – when combined, they turn into something really special.
Here, strawberries are macerated with tart-sweet pomegranate molasses and aromatic black peppercorns to balance the rich sweetness of the sweetened whipped cream and buttery biscuits.
Prep 10 min Macerate 30 min Cook 50 min, plus cooling Makes 8
For the shortcakes 280g plain flour , plus extra for dusting 40g granulated sugar 2½ tsp baking powder ¾ tsp salt ¼ tsp ground cardamom 115g cold unsalted butter , cut into cubes 165ml cold double cream Demerara sugar , for sprinkling
For the macerated strawberries 300g fresh strawberries , hulled and quartered 3 tbsp granulated sugar 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses ¼ tbsp salt , plus extra as needed Freshly cracked black pepper For the whipped cream 480ml double cream 1 tbsp granulated sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract
Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7 and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
Sift the flour into a large bowl, then whisk in the granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and cardamom. Add the butter and rub into the flour bowl until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (or use a pastry cutter or food processor). Add 120ml of the cold cream and quickly stir to form a soft dough.
Turn out the dough on to a floured surface and knead briefly – 20-30 seconds – until it just comes together. Roll out the dough until it is about 2½cm thick, then use a 6½cm cookie cutter to stamp out eight biscuits.
Place the biscuits 7½cm apart on the prepared tray, and brush the tops with the remaining 45ml cream and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown and well risen.
Remove and leave the biscuits to cool on the tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack and leave to cool until just slightly warm.
In a medium bowl, gently crush a quarter of the strawberries with the sugar and pomegranate molasses, then fold in the remaining strawberries and season to taste. Leave to macerate for 30 minutes.
For the whipped cream, combine the cream, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat on low until it just begins to thicken. Increase the speed to medium and whisk to soft peaks. Slice each short…