Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for strawberry and basil shortcakes | The sweet spot

I love a freshly baked scone with clotted cream and jam as much as anyone, but they don’t necessarily feel like dessert. Shortcakes are a bit more cakey than scones (I add a little cornmeal for texture), and I always overfill them with whipped cream and plenty of syrupy, basil-scented strawberries. So, when I want something that screams summer, and that I can eat outside in the sun, these fit the bill perfectly.

Strawberry and basil shortcakes

Prep 10 min
Chill 15 min+
Macerate 20 min
Cook 50 min
Makes 8

For the shortcakes
275g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
50g fine cornmeal
50g caster sugar
3 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp fine sea salt
160g cold unsalted butter, diced
200g cold buttermilk
Milk, to glaze
Demerara sugar, to finish

For the filling
300g strawberries, hulled and halved
4-5 basil leaves
30g caster sugar
300ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 and line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Put the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine. Using your fingertips, rub in the cubed butter until the mixture is quite coarse and most of the pieces of butter are the size of a pea. Make a well in the centre, pour in the buttermilk and stir gently until you have a rough, shaggy dough. Turn this out on to a lightly floured surface and gently pat into a roughly 2½cm-thick rectangle. Using a sharp knife or bench scraper, divide the dough into four even pieces, then stack them up on top of each other.

Use your hands to flatten the stack back down into a rectangle, then tidy up the edges with the back of a knife. Cut the dough into eight pieces, transfer to the baking tray, then put in the freezer for 15 minutes or in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Brush the tops with a little milk and sprinkle on some demerara sugar. Bake for 24-27 minutes, until golden and the bases sound hollow when tapped, then transfer to a rack and leave to cool completely.

For the filling, put the strawberries in a bowl. Finely shred the basil and add it to the strawberries with the sugar. Give everything a good mix to coat, then leave to macerate for at least 20 minutes, until the strawberries have released some of their juices and look syrupy. Lightly whip the cream and vanilla, then chill until needed.

To assemble, split open the shortcakes, spoon on some cream and top with the strawberries and some of their syrup.