Strawberry Shortcake

I remember watching an episode of Masterchef, where the contestants were asked to recreate the one food memory that they had. If I had to ever do this, there would be numerous; but if I had to ever think of that one moment that initiated my fondness for cooking, it would be the strawberry shortcake. While I was in school, birthdays were big. And each year, K’s birthday (one of my very old friends from school) would bring along a wonderful strawberry shortcake, which was her favourite, and her mum would bake it year after year. It really was the prettiest cake I could imagine, gorgeous and sinful. Maybe my obsession with pink also has its roots there. I would see that cake and wonder if ever in life, I would  be able to bake anything remotely close to 'the strawberry shortcake'. As years passed, I did start baking myself, but never found the courage to try it out. It would cross my mind each year, on 23^rd Jan J and each time I would see strawberries, or when I would speak to K, I would determine to muster up the courage to try it. In fact, even when I met K’s mom a few years back in the US, I remember discussing the memory of the short cake. Like many other things in life, Fear of failure prevented me from taking the plunge.

             But as the blog has started progressing, and I have decided to not let the fear of failure prevent me from doing ANYTHING, I figured that maybe it was time for the strawberry shortcake. So, I dropped an email to K (London), asking her for the recipe. She asked K aunty (SF) to type it out and send it. So this recipe really, has travelled across 3 continents to reach me! I’m really glad K remembered and made the effort, and a bigger thanks to aunty. The recipe is brilliant and I have already baked this twice- and each time, the response has been unbelievable. Although I am positive, mine hasn’t turned to be half as good as the original, because there is surely a certain amount of skill that is required. The recipe is new training ground for me- as it doesn’t involve any butter or oil. Hopefully, a few more times and Ill be able to get it right. I also think that I could do better with the cream- my whipping skills need a lot of improvement. I am hopeful, that this will come close to perfect someday soon. I wanted to try this as a 1^st celebration for my wonderful platter, but I haven’t managed to photograph it and hence, I am just posting a couple of shots. More on this soon…All credit for the recipe is totally hers.

Strawberries are the angels of the earth, innocent and sweet with green leafy wings reaching heavenward- Terri Guillemets

This cake is surely my heaven. J Thanks K aunty! I’m not going to share the recipe just yet- Will take the author’s permission and do so!
p.s the recipe can now be found here.