Sexy Strawberry Shortcake

Directions

1. Cakes

2. Preheat your oven to 425℉. Grab your large cast iron skillet and add in your tablespoon of butter. Put your cast iron in the oven to preheat it as the oven warms up and melts your butter.

3. While the cast iron preheats in the oven, grab your large mixing bowl and combine your all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, and sugar. Then grab your stick of cold butter and cut into slices. Put the slices of butter into the large mixing bowl and press the dry ingredients into the butter and mix with your hands.

4. When the butter is pressed down and crumbly, add in your milk. Continue mixing and kneading the contents with your hands until you get a soft dough consistency.

5. Place some flour on a flat surface. Grab your dough and start pressing the dough into the flat surface until you get a nice big circle, about 1 inch thick. You want the circle to have some depth so your cakes are fluffy so don't spread 'em out too thin.

6. Grab your cup or mug (or cookie cutter if you prefer) and press into the dough to carve out small cake circles. Using a standard cup/mug, you should get somewhere from 4-6 cakes from this dough.

7. Get your cast iron from the oven and safely place on surface. Turn the cast iron gently side to side to make sure the melted butter covers the surface.

8. Place your small dough cake circles into the cast iron. Flip each circle so that each side gets covered in some of the melted butter.

9. Then sprinkle the remaining 1-2 tablespoon of sugar you have on hand across the cast iron skillet and dough before putting them in the oven. Then place in oven for 12-15 minutes until they're a soft golden brown.

10. Once done, remove and let cool on cooling rack until they reach room temperature.

11. Strawberry Glaze

12. While the cakes bake, grab your cutting knife and cutting board and chopped up your strawberries into quarters. Add the strawberry quarters and your cane sugar to your small stovetop pan and fold the sugars into the strawberry slices. Then let the pot simmer on the stove on low heat until everything melts down into a nice red glaze. Stir occasionally so sugars and fruit melt down.

13. When you achieve a glaze consistency, turn off stove and transfer contents to a small mixing bowl. Place in the refrigerator to cool while you make the whipped cream.

14. Whipped Cream

15. While your strawberry glaze is forming and the cakes are still baking, grab your Standing KitchenAid and attach the whisk attachment.

16. Add in heavy whipping cream and mix on medium speed so the cream thickens. Add in your powdered sugar and continue mixing until you get a nice fluffy consistency and soft peaks form.

17. Place the KitchenAid mixing bowl (with whipped cream) in the refrigerator to chill until your shortcakes are at least room temperature and your strawberry glaze has cooled significantly.

18. Constructing the Sexy Strawberry Shortcake

19. Grab your cooled cakes, cooled strawberry glaze, and chilled whipped cream. Start by grabbing one cake and layer with whipped cream and the strawberry glaze. If you have extra whole strawberries, you can add a layer of thinly sliced strawberries here as well. Then close the layer with another cake circle so you have what looks like a strawberry shortcake sandwich. Then add a dollop of whipped cream atop of the sandwich and a small spoonful of the strawberry glaze to top off this delicious treat.

20. Again, if you have extra strawberries, you can garnish the top of the shortcake with some raw berry pieces!

21. Enjoy your beautiful sexy dessert!