Shortcake

Cake or biscuit? I don't mind having both!

Define it!

   I have decided to write an entry about shortcake particularly because it can mean two different things. The term is used in England to designate a kind of biscuit, sometimes called by shortbread too, and also a kind of pastry used in fruit or chocolate cakes. Though their recipes have almost the same ingredients, their results can be quite different; they are also consumed in very different ways. The shortcake biscuit, for example, is usually eaten with tea or given as a treat in special occasions; the shortcake itself is usually a pudding/dessert with many other flavours and textures blended in.

Buttery golden shortcakes for me to taste.
Had a great time and will definitely get some more!

   It is said that shortcake biscuits were invented in Scotland during the 12^th century and were considered a very special and expensive Christmas treat. They are are usually baked in three shapes: large circles, called petticoat tails; thick slabs, called fingers; or small round doughs. Special occasions biscuits may also come in different shapes, as the ones sold by Girl Scouts: they sell shortcakes that look like their trefoil logo. These biscuits are also all patterned with forks or cookie-molds.

   The name shortcake comes from the huge amount of butter used to bake them. In cookery, when the proportion of fat is higher than the one of dry ingredients, the gluten strands get inhibited from forming. This process, called shortening, ensures a crumbly texture to the pastry. Traditional recipes used one part of sugar for two of butter and three of flour. Nowadays, it is quite common to incorporate baking powder in it, and also a bit of milk or cream sometimes.

   The shortcake cake is usually topped with fruits and whipped cream, though there are chocolate versions of it too. The most common is the strawberry one, which got extremely popular during the 1850’s. The cake is usually baked in layers and moisturised with the juices from the toppings. Nowadays, a lot of shortcake cakes are not cooked with proper shortcake pastry, but with sponge or angel cake instead – this is due to health concerns about fat contents in it.

Taste it!

   My initial idea was to taste both kinds of shortcake: the biscuit and the actual cake. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any good-looking strawberry shortcakes in the bakeries I visited, nor even at Sainsbury’s. I’d be more than glad if I could get any recommendations on where to eat it, though! That said, I decided to grab some biscuits and also some caramel shortcakes at the market. I had the first one with a cup of coffee and the second one just after dinner tonight.

   The taste of the biscuit itself is, of course, very buttery and also less sweet than I expected. They are quite crunchy on the outside, but then instantly melt in a soft texture in your mouth. Having it with coffee was a great idea, especially if you dip the biscuits into it. This reminded of my childhood, when I used to go to my grandma’s house and have tea with “biscoitos maizena”, a typical kind of biscuit in Brazil very similar to shortcake.

   The caramel shortcakes were also a nice experience, though I liked them a little less. Guess I was expecting too much from the chocolate and ended up surprised when I found out it was not as sweet as I expected either. It was a little more soft than the biscuits, and something on it reminded me of nuts – the caramel, maybe? I also found out that they are very popular in Australia and sometimes called “Millionaires’ Slice”.

Express it!         

   One of the oldest literary mentions to shortcake appears in “The Merry Wives of Windsor”, a William Shakespeare comedy published in 1602. In Act I, Scene I, the character Simple mentions someone called “Alice Shortcake”, which is apparently used as a codename. This play deals a lot with prejudice between classes in the reign of Henry IV and represents a lot of the English Elizabethan middle class life.

   Even though the shortcake was a British culinary invention, Americans are also crazy about it. The first recipe for strawberry shortcake is credited to Eliza Leslie, an American author from Philadelphia who wrote very popular books on cooking and etiquette during the 19^th century. In 1847, she published “Miss Leslie’s Ladies Receipt Book: A Useful Companion for Large or Small Families”, which contained a recipe with crumbly pastry for “Strawberry Cake”.

   But one of the cutest – and most profitable – representations of this dessert is the Strawberry Shortcake character, which is owned by American Greetings. She and her dog Custard were initially used in cards during the late 70’s and early 80’s,  but soon enough turned into toys, videogames, posters, television series and even a film. With time, she also got a whole set of sweet friends, such as Huckleberry Pie and Blueberry Muffin. I have got to admit that Strawberry Shortcake was a huge hit amongst girls all over the world – even I had one of her dolls back home! In my country, we call her “Moranguinho”.