{{Short description|Dessert with a crumbly scone-like texture, or a British biscuit, or a Chinese baked good}} {{Distinguish|Shortbread}} {{for|Yuki Kashiwagi's single|Shortcake (Yuki Kashiwagi song)}} {{Infobox food | name = Shortcake | image = File:Stawberry shortcake.jpeg | image_size = 300px | caption = Strawberry shortcake | alternate_name = | country = United Kingdom | region = | creator = | type = Cake or biscuit | served = | main_ingredient = Flour, sugar, butter, milk or cream | variations = | calories = | other = }}
'''Shortcake''' generally refers to a dessert with a crumbly scone-like texture.<ref>{{cite news |title=What is Shortcake? |url=https://bakingbites.com/2009/09/what-is-a-shortcake/ |access-date=21 October 2022 |work=Bakingbites |date=3 September 2009}}</ref> There are multiple variations of shortcake, most of which are served with fruit and cream. One of the most popular is strawberry shortcake, which is typically served with whipped cream. Other variations common in the UK are blackberry and clotted cream shortcake<ref>{{cite web|title=Blackberry & clotted cream shortcake|url=https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/blackberry-clotted-cream-shortcake |date=September 2005 |publisher=BBC Good Food}}</ref> and lemon berry shortcake, which is served with lemon curd in place of cream.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lemon Berry Shortcake with Pressed Edible Flowers |url=https://nurturedinnorfolk.co.uk/lemon-berry-shortcake-with-pressed-edible-flowers/ |date=1 June 2021 |publisher=nurturedinnorfolk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Lemon Blueberry Shortcakes |url=https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a40022837/lemon-blueberry-shortcakes-recipe/ |date=1 June 2022 |publisher=Delish}}</ref> Shortcake is also the name of a popular biscuit available in the UK,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/shortcake|title=Shortcake|website=Cillins English Dictionary|access-date=27 May 2026}}</ref> and '''Xiting Shortcake''', a layered baked good from China.<ref name=seyuan>{{cite web|url=http://www.ntseyuan.com/en/a7.asp|title=Tourist Guide - Food|website=ntseyusn.com|access-date=28 May 2026}}</ref>
==Preparation== Shortcake is typically made with flour, sugar, baking powder or soda, salt, butter, milk or cream, and sometimes eggs. The dry ingredients are blended, and then the butter is cut in until the mixture resembles cornmeal. The liquid ingredients are then mixed in just until moistened, resulting in a shortened dough. The dough is then dropped in spoonfuls onto a baking sheet, rolled and cut like baking powder biscuits, or poured into a cake pan, depending on how wet the dough is and the baker's preferences. Then it is baked at a relatively high temperature until set.<ref name="Purvis"/><ref name="Hamel">{{cite news |last1=Hamel |first1=PJ |title=Imaginative ways to up your shortcake game {{!}} King Arthur Baking |url=https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2021/07/08/imaginative-summer-fruit-shortcake-tips |access-date=13 February 2022 |work=www.kingarthurbaking.com |date=July 8, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
Strawberry shortcake is a widely known dessert made with shortcake. Sliced strawberries are mixed with sugar and allowed to sit an hour or so, until the strawberries have surrendered a great deal of their juices (macerated). The shortcakes are split, and the bottoms are covered with a layer of strawberries, juice, and whipped cream, typically flavored with sugar and vanilla. The top is replaced, and more strawberries and whipped cream are added onto the top. Some convenience versions of shortcake are not made with a shortcake (i.e. biscuit) at all, but instead use a base of sponge cake.<ref name="Purvis"/><ref name="Hamel"/>
Though strawberry is the most widely known shortcake dessert, peach shortcake, blueberry shortcake, chocolate shortcake and other similar desserts are made along similar lines.<ref name="Hamel"/> In some recipes the shortcake itself is flavored; coconut is one addition.<ref name="Longbotham">{{cite book |last1=Longbotham |first1=Lori |title=Luscious Coconut Desserts |date=16 November 2012 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=978-1-4521-0021-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TWJ5xgCAiYMC&pg=PT12 |access-date=21 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
==History of Shortcake dessert== [[File:Strawberry shortcake from Gibson's Steakhouse in Chicago, Illinois.jpg|alt=Strawberry shortcake from Gibson's Steakhouse in Chicago, Illinois|thumb|Strawberry shortcake from Gibson's Steakhouse in Chicago, Illinois]] The ''short'' part of the name ''shortcake'' indicates something crumbly or crispy, generally through the addition of a fat such as butter or lard.<ref name="Purvis">{{cite news |last1=Purvis |first1=Kathleen |title=The long and short of the classic shortcake |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-07-18-0707160458-story.html |access-date=13 February 2022 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=July 18, 2007 |language=en}}</ref> The earliest printed mention of the descriptive term ''short'' – as in ''short cake'' – occurred in 1588, in the second English cookbook to be printed, ''The Good Huswifes Handmaid for Cookerie in her Kitchen'' (London, 1588).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Roufs |first1=Timothy G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_eCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA365 |title=Sweet Treats around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture |last2=Roufs |first2=Kathleen Smyth |date=2014-07-29 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-221-2 |pages=365 |language=en |quote=The "short" in shortcake comes from the 15th-century British usage meaning crumbly like, the first mention of which, as "short cake", appeared in London in 1588.}}</ref> However, that recipe describes an unleavened biscuit or cookie (in the North American sense), made of flour, cream, sugar, egg yolk and spices.<ref name="Marks">{{cite news |last1=Marks |first1=Gil |title=Strawberry Shortcake - History and Recipe |url=https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/history-strawberry-shortcake-recipe/ |access-date=13 February 2022 |work=Tori Avey |date=30 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="Huswifes">{{cite web |title=A Good Huswifes Handmaide, 1594 |url=https://www.foodsofengland.info/book1594huswife.html |website=Foods of England |access-date=21 April 2025}}</ref>
Strawberries were included in a recipe for "Strawberry cake" which appeared in the June 1, 1845, issue (page 86) of ''The Ohio Cultivator'' (Columbus). The recipe was popularized by Eliza Leslie of Philadelphia in ''The Lady's Receipt-book'' (1847). These "Strawberry cakes" were made of a thick unleavened cookie of flour, butter, eggs and sugar, split, layered with fresh strawberries, and covered with a hard sugar-and-egg white icing.<ref name="Marks"/><ref name="Leslie">{{cite book |last1=Leslie |first1=Eliza |title=The lady's receipt-book: a useful companion for large or small families |date=1847 |publisher=Carey and Hart |location=Philadelphia |pages=198–199 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044087429015&view=1up&seq=204&skin=2021 |access-date=13 February 2022}}</ref>
The North American introduction of baking soda and baking powder as leaven in the 1800s revolutionized baking and made possible the American biscuit-style shortcake.<ref name="Civitello">{{cite book |last1=Civitello |first1=Linda |title=Baking powder wars : the cutthroat food fight that revolutionized cooking |date=2017 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Urbana |isbn=978-0252041082 |pages=45, 70–74}}</ref> By the 1850s, leavened shortcakes were the popular basis for American strawberry cakes, and the term strawberry shortcake became established.<ref name="Marks"/>
By the 1860s, cream was being poured onto the shortcake and strawberries. A June 1862 issue of the ''Genesse Farmer'' (Rochester) described a "Strawberry Shortcake" made up of layers of soda biscuit, fresh berries, sugar, and cream. A similar recipe appeared in ''Jennie June's American Cookery Book'' (1866) by Jane Cunningham Croly.<ref name="Marks"/> The first known cookbook by a black woman in the United States, ''A Domestic Cook Book'' (1866) by Malinda Russell,<ref name="Levins">{{cite web |last1=Levins |first1=Sandy |title=Author of First Cookbook Written by an African American: Malinda Russell |url=https://wednesdayswomen.com/author-of-first-cookbook-written-by-an-african-american-malinda-russell/ |website=WednesdaysWomen |access-date=1 February 2022 |date=31 March 2021}}</ref> also contains a recipe.<ref name="Russell">{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Malinda |title=A domestic cook book: containing a careful selection of useful receipts for the kitchen by Malinda Russell, an experienced cook, Paw Paw, Michigan, 1866: a facsimile of the first known cookbook by an African American. |date=2007 |publisher=William L. Clements Library |isbn=978-1-4255-8881-6 |page=12 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073926647&view=1up&seq=30&skin=2021 |access-date=13 February 2022}}</ref>
==International variations== In the UK, Shortcake biscuits (North American:Cookies) are a dry sweet biscuit eaten as a snack or served with Tea. They are lighter in texture than the similary named Shortbread.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://maryberryrecipe.co.uk/mary-berry-shortcake-biscuit-recipe/|title=Mary Berry Shortcake Biscuit Recipe|website=Mary Berry recipes|date=8 April 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://nibblemybiscuit.com/biscuits/shortcake-biscuits/|title=Shortcake Biscuits|website=Nibble my Biscuit|date=11 November 2017}}</ref>
Xingting shortcake, also known as Nangting Shortcake, is a Chinese baked good from Jiangsu Province. The shortcake has been made since the Qing dynasty, and is made with high-quality pale wheat flour, premium lard, and sugar, and is made up of 18 layers.<ref name=seyuan/>
==Festivals== In the United States, strawberry shortcake parties were held as celebrations of the summer fruit harvest. This tradition is upheld in some parts of the United States on June 14, which is Strawberry Shortcake Day.<ref name="Chesman">{{cite book |last1=Chesman |first1=Andrea |last2=Raboff |first2=Fran |title=250 Treasured Country Desserts: Mouthwatering, Time-honored, Tried & True, Soul-satisfying, Handed-down Sweet Comforts |date=1 January 2009 |publisher=Storey Publishing |isbn=978-1-60342-152-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHa-0vRw0i8C&pg=PR13 |access-date=13 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
The city of Lebanon, Oregon, holds the Strawberry Festival each year on the first full weekend of June. Since 1931, the festival has featured the "World’s Largest Strawberry Shortcake", which is transported by float during the Grand Parade and then served by the Strawberry Queen and her Court to festival visitors. The title of "World’s Largest" is an honorary title. At approximately 5,700 lbs, the cake does not definitively hold the world record.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Worlds Largest Strawberry Shortcake |url=https://www.lebanonstrawberryfest.com/worlds-largest-strawberry-shortcake.html |access-date=2024-08-30 |website=Lebanon Strawberry Festival |language=en}}</ref>
==Record== The largest strawberry shortcake ever made was in the town of La Trinidad, Benguet, in the Philippines on March 20, 2004. It weighed 21,213.40 lbs (9622.23 kg).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Largest fruit shortcake|url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-fruit-shortcake|access-date=2021-02-12|website=Guinness World Records |date= 20 March 2004 |language=en-GB}}</ref> ==Gallery== <gallery> File:Strawberry Shortcake (13917733299).jpg | American-style strawberry shortcake with a biscuit base File:Strawberry shortcake with whipcream.jpg | American-style strawberry shortcake with a sponge cake base File:Strawberry short cake（ストロベリーショートケーキ） (2874857378).jpg | Asian-style strawberry cake File:Strawberry Cake.JPG | Asian-style strawberry cake File:Tesco 20 Mini Shortcakes.jpg|British Shortcake biscuits File:Nantong shortcake.jpg|Nangtong or Xiting Shortcake, also known as Xiting Crispy Cake (Xiting Cuibing) </gallery>
==See also== * List of cakes * List of quick breads * List of strawberry dishes * Strawberry cake * Strawberry Shortcake, an American Greetings character who bears the name of, and is based on, the dessert * Joanie Cunningham, a ''Happy Days'' character nicknamed "Shortcake"
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Cakes}} {{Portal bar|Food|United Kingdom|Canada|Australia|New Zealand|South Africa|United States|Japan|China}}
Category:British desserts Category:Quick breads Category:Sweet breads Category:Strawberry dishes Category:American cakes Category:British cakes Category:Biscuits Category:Symbols of Florida Category:Chinese bakery products