Refined Strawberry Shortcake

Name: Refined Strawberry Shortcake
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients: 2 pounds (907 grams), strawberries, hulled and sliced vertically 1/4 inch thick (6 cups); 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces; 50 grams), granulated sugar; 2 teaspoons, lemon juice; Pinch, salt; 1/2 teaspoon, cornstarch; 4 tablespoons, unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly; 1 teaspoon, vanilla extract; 1/2 teaspoon, grated lemon zest; 1 1/4 cups (5 ounces; 142 grams), cake flour; 1/4 teaspoon, salt; 5 , large eggs; 3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces; 149 grams), granulated sugar; 1 cup, heavy cream; 1/3 cup, crème fraîche; 3 tablespoons, confectioners' sugar, plus extra for dusting

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated May/June 2016

Desserts or Baked Goods

Fruit

Fruit Desserts

Cakes

Loads of fresh berries were a given. But for a refined version of this classic dessert, the key was engineering a cake that could take the juice—and hold on to the berries.

SERVES8

TIME1½ hours, plus 1½ hours resting and 2 hours cooling

has video

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

For our Refined Strawberry Shortcake, we used a genoise sponge cake, whose structure is dependent on egg proteins versus the weaker gluten proteins of a butter cake, making it better able to absorb the berries’ juice without breaking down. ...

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