San Francisco Meets Southern Chocolate Shortcake

I know I'm a bit late, but I thought I'd share the dessert I made for July 4 this year. It was a wonderful, gooey yet cakey shortcake recipe that I adapted from Paula Deen's classic chocolate strawberry shortcake. She put RE-DICULUS amounts of sugar in hers, so I toned that down a bit, and I also used sustainable cocoa and King Arthur cake flour. So it was feel-good bad-for-you food. Yummsies.

This flour is the BOMB dot com.

I also used Clover buttermilk. So fresh.

Still in the pan. It cracks a little, but don't be concerned.

I had to summon my strength not to put my face in it.

The final result. Wish I had my nice camera, but my desperation to eat overcame my desire to take photos.

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

Recipe Adapted from Paula Deen's Savannah Country Cookbook

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup shortening (or butter)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

3 egg whites

1 quart of fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

whipping cream (drool)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 

2. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl (except strawberries and whipping cream). Mix it up, scraping the bowl constantly. If you have a mixer, mix on high for 3 minutes after incorporated, otherwise just stir really fast to try to get a lot of air into the batter. Build up those arm muscles!

3. Pour into a greased and floured 13x9 inch pan

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

5. Cool completely (the hard part). 

6. Cut into slices with a very sharp knife. Serve with a ton of whipped cream and sliced strawberries.