My Gam’s Strawberry Shortcake Shortcut Secret
Shh, don’t tell nobody — Gam’s poundcake was really Sara Lee’s
My beloved Gam could almost make anything in her magical cast iron pots and pans. With just a few caveats, she could not make a decent bowl of oatmeal to save her life and she wasn’t a skilled baker, but 9 out of 10 ain’t bad.
The cakes from my childhood came from a box or Sara Lee as Audarshia Townsend explained in her heartwarming story, In Hot Pursuit of the Perfect Pound Cake, “grandmothers and mothers always having one on hand “just in case company came over.”
Company didn’t come over very often at my house, but Sara Lee’s pound cake was still a family favorite and the semi-secret ingredient in my Gam’s Strawberry Shortcake. She never lied or tried to hide it.
As a child, I remember going to the strawberry patch (as my Gam called it) right when the sun came up. The sweet, tangy smell filled the morning air, and the drops of dew chilled my tiny fingers as I tried to pick perfect, big, and bright berries and carefully placed them in my basket.
Every now and then I’d sneak a few strawberries before we took them to the weigh station at the farm stand. I’d always tell the owner that I’d eaten a few — “to stay honest.” We’d happily put our haul of fresh, juicy fruit in the truck and as soon as we got home, we washed and prepared the strawberries. Most of them were just simply sliced in half with a little sprinkle of sugar and left in the refrigerator to macerate.
The others could have been made into jelly, jam or a slurry that was frozen in paper cups and made into homemade fresh fruit popsicles that were simply delicious. However, my favorite strawberry treat was my Gam’s Strawberry Shortcake.
The more I take a stroll down memory lane, I’m beginning to realize my Gam had a few semi-homemade tricks up her sleeve. Sandra Lee wasn’t the first or the only one.
My grandmother would occasionally use Sara lee’s butter pound cake as the base for her Strawberry Shortcake. The recipe was simple. She would take freshly macerated strawberries and pour heaping spoonsful of berries and juice on top of a room temperature or slightly warm thick slice of Sara Lee pound cake and top with whipped cream (or Cool Whip when it was popular).
It was the perfect bite — especially if you waited a couple of minutes and allowed the juice to soak through the dense thick slice of pound cake. It was the perfect combination of fresh, sweet-tangy strawberries laying on an edible cake pillow.
A few times she would bring home premade cake cups from the fruit section of the grocery store. They were cute, but they always tasted stale. That was supposed to be her fancy version of individual serving-sized Strawberry Shortcakes, but they were a sad, disappointing substitute. Later, I discovered Strawberry Shortcakes had countless iterations and interpretations.
They could be made with traditional vanilla cake or have a sweet or savory biscuit base. Everyone has their own version of Strawberry Shortcake, but my Gam’s and Tiffany’s Bakery version are my favorites (which is made with vanilla cake).
My Gam didn’t even try to make pound cake and I think we both knew that traditional box cake just didn’t have enough fortitude to handle fresh macerated strawberries and all their luscious juice, but in a pinch it would work.
I would like to thank Audarshia Townsend for bringing back yummy memories from my childhood. Sadly, Covid compromised the tradition of having company and even before the pandemic my busy schedule didn’t allow for very much entertaining, but I think this is giving me an idea for what I’d like to do this summer. Unfortunately, strawberries aren’t in season yet, but it’s good to have some seasonal goals.
So I’ll hold my strawberry shortcake dreams until the summertime, but that doesn’t stop me from getting a pound cake and just eating a plain slice and smile as I remember my Gam’s sweet, simple shortcake.
