Somewhere in the early 20^th century, the biscuit version of shortcake became less popular in North America and many came to know strawberry shortcake instead to mean a small sponge cake topped with whipped cream and strawberries even though sponge cake is not a shortcake at all!

To create the sponge version, prepare a double batch of sponge cake and prepare the strawberries and whipped cream as described below (same as for traditional strawberry shortcake). For the cake pictured, I used commercially prepared coconut whipped cream from a spray can. Not as pretty but it was still very delicious. This was a special request from my kids’ grandpa for his 80th birthday.

Ingredients

• 1 double recipe of sponge cake
• 4 cups fresh ripe strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• Whipped cream

Yield:

Puree or mash 1 cup of strawberries then add 2 cups of the sliced berries and macerate by mixing with the sugar and letting sit for at least 30 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of sliced strawberries for garnish.

Using a serrated knife, halve the shortcake biscuits. Spoon the macerated berries and their juice over the biscuit bottoms. Place a dollop of whipped cream over the berries then cover with the shortcake top. Spoon more whipped cream on top and garnish with fresh sliced berries.