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Strawberry Shortcake is synonymous with my youngest son Michael’s birthday and Canada Day though I think Michael is shifting towards something resembling a Strawberry Trifle.
 Shortcake:
2 1/4 cup Flour
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 Tablespoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/3 cup Shortening, cold
1 Egg
2/3 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Whipped Cream:
1 litre Whipping Cream
Vanilla
Icing Sugar
Macerated Strawberries:
5 cups Sliced Strawberries, divided
1/4 cup Honey
Lemon Juice
or
Amaretto
8 Whole Strawberries, washed, leave stems on
Macerated Strawberries:
Place 4 cups of Sliced Strawberries into a bowl, drizzle with 1/4 cup of Honey, a scant amount of Lemon Juice or Amaretto, stir.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let the flavours blend; I recommend doing this the day before.
Whipped Cream:
Whip cream in cold bowl using cold beaters.
As cream starts to slightly thicken, add a generous splash of Vanilla and icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time, to taste. I usually use about 3 Tablespoons.
Remove 1 cup of whipping cream to make the filling, cover remainder of the whipping cream with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.
Filling:
1 1/2 cups Bavarian Creme <- I always get mine at Save on Foods, in the Bulk section
1 cup Fresh Strawberries, chopped
1 cup Fresh Whipped Cream
Combine bavarian creme, chopped strawberries and 1 cup of whipped cream.
Shortcake
Preheat oven to 425F (220C)
Prepare baking sheet by lightly spraying with vegetable oil spray and dusting ever so lightly with cornmeal.
In mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
Using pastry blender, cut in cold shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Measure out milk, add egg and vanilla, using a fork, stir well to combine.
Add liquid ingredients all at once to dry ingredients and stir until the dough gathers and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn out onto lightly floured surface and gently knead 10 times.
Gently pat down into a 10″ (25cm) circle or ever so gently roll out and cut with the large scalloped side of the top right cutter, for individual shortcakes.
 Place on prepared baking sheet, score the 10″ (25cm) (keeping in mind you will be splitting the shortcake so very light scoring) circle into 8 wedges and bake in hot oven for 15 – 20 minutes, rotating pan(s) at 8 minutes. Continue baking until lightly golden.
Remove from oven and transfer shortcake(s) to wire rack to cool completely.
Building your Shortcake
When cooled, split shortcake(s).
Place bottom half of shortcake on serving platter.
Spread filling to cover, leaving an inch on the outside border.
Load large CLEAN piping bag (if there is any grease residue from say, Buttercream Icing, it will compromise the Whipped Cream!) with fresh whipped cream and pipe a high border around the filling.
Gently spoon a cup of macerated berries over the filling.
Gently refresh score lines.
Gently place scored top layer over filled bottom layer.
Pipe a border around the top and bottom of the cake.
Spoon remaining macerated strawberries on top of the cake and spread to fill area inside piped border.
Decorate with remaining whole strawberries.
If making the individual shortcakes, follow same procedure on each shortcake except that you don’t have to score them. (I usually make individual Shortcakes)
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