Strawberry Shortcake

Of course the first thing I did after purchasing strawberries on Saturday was make my favorite shortcake to go with them. I am nuts about almonds and this cake has the perfect hint of almond without being too much (Dann is not a fan like I am). This is my most anticipated summer dessert, followed by peaches and blueberry upside down cake which is Dann's favorite and a close second for me.

The recipe is from a Cooking Light cookbook that is tagged and marked and on the brink of falling apart as it has been a go-to cookbook for many years and holds many of our favorite recipes. Over the years of course I experiment more, using the recipes as a basis, but adding our own little twists and turns and making as much from scratch as we can vs using the prepared ingredients that may be mentioned. An example of that is the whipped cream above - this is homemade, nothing but the best! and there is a story of course behind the tool used to make this delicious topping.

We have a friend, Margrit, who we met in North Carolina. Margrit hales from Switzerland. We hosted a dinner party one evening and Margrit brought dessert. When preparing dessert Margrit pulled out a contraption, added a little heavy cream, started turning the handle and in about a minute we had whipped cream. Dann & I fell in love again that night...with a kitchen gadget. Sadly we were informed that Margit had purchased "Betty Bossy" (the kitchen gadget's translated name) while home...in Switzerland. Dann & I combed every Kitchen gadget store in every town we went to for about 3 years, including kitchen gadget stores all across the UK, Northern Ireland, and Western Europe when we were traveling. Much to our dismay, we could not locate a Betty Bossy. Margrit, knowing our love of Betty, and hearing of our troubles, brought a Betty Bossy backed to the States with her after a trip to Switzerland and shipped Betty to us as a house warming gift after our move to Western New York.

YOU however are in luck. The other night I was tooling through the William Sonoma website and what do I find? Betty, beautiful Betty. Click BETTY and order her right now, your life will never be the same. But don't over turn the heavy cream...unless you really do want butter. You can also make eggs, batters, etc with Betty, but the sweetest treat of all is whipped cream.

Now to the shortcake recipe...

Ingredients
4 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
Vegetable cooking spray
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1/3 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup skim milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 egg whites (at room temperature)
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed and divided
Mint sprig (optional)

Directions:
Combine sliced strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl; stir well. Cover and chill 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Line a 9-inch round cake pan with wax paper. Coat pan with cooking spray, and dust with 1 teaspoon flour; set aside.

Cream margarine at medium speed of a mixer; gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

Combine 1 3/4 cups flour, baking powder, and salt; stir well. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in almond extract.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed of a mixer (or in Betty as I did) until foamy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir about one-fourth of egg white mixture into batter. Gently fold in remaining egg white mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over top of cake. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Slice shortcake in half horizontally. Place bottom half, cut side up, on a serving plate. Drain strawberries, reserving juice; drizzle half of juice over bottom cake layer. Spread 1 cup whipped topping over cake layer, and arrange half of strawberries over whipped topping. Top with remaining cake layer, cut side down, and drizzle with remaining reserved juice. Spread remaining cup whipped topping over top cake layer, and arrange remaining half of strawberries over whipped topping. Garnish with a mint sprig, if desired.

Devour!