Spelt Strawberry Shortcake with Coconut Whipped Cream

Strawberries, strawberries, sweet juicy strawberries!

This is definitely the perfect season to enjoy this delicious fruit. Don't you think so?

Today's recipe is a classic with a little touch of originality given by the coconut whipped cream. Good for those who don't have any problems with lactose and would like to try a new combination, and a happy suggestion for those who are lactose intolerant like my husband.

In the list of ingredients, you'll see I used low-fat goat butter and low-fat goat milk, but if you don't like goat dairy products or if you are also intolerant to that, you might think of substituting the got milk with low-fat lactose-free milk or vegetable milk, and the goat butter with any kind of low-fat vegetable products...but please, please, please, don't use vegetable products that contain palm oil...try to think of our orangutan friends and avoid using palm oil...please. :)

If you are not lactose intolerant, simply use low-fat cow butter and skimmed cow milk. :)

INGREDIENTS:

400 g (4 cups) fresh strawberries, sliced in 4 parts

250 g (2 cups) spelt flour or all-purpose flour

100 g (1/2 cup) brown sugar

75 g (1/3 cup) cold low-fat goat butter

90 g (170ml or 2/3 cup) skimmed goat milk

1 egg, slightly beaten

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ lemon, juice

A package of coconut whipping cream ( 200ml/ 1cup)

BAKING DIRECTIONS:

Preheated oven: 350ºF/180ºC

Baking time: 30 Minutes

Cut each strawberry in 4 pieces, squeeze the lemon, add the juice to the strawberries, and set aside.

Some people prefer to add some sugar to the strawberries so that they get more sugary and juicy. I find strawberries good as they are, but choose what appeals to your taste the most.

If you'd like to add sugar, then add 100g (½ cup) to the strawberries and let them stand for at least 1 hour, so that some juice will form and you can wet your shortcake with it.

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add butter to the dry ingredients and cut it in tiny little pieces using a fork or a pastry blender. Keep on blending until the butter combined with the other ingredients will look like coarse crumbs. Add the egg and milk and stir just until all the ingredients are mixed.

Transfer the quite thick batter into a buttered and floured 24 Ø cm/9-inch cake pan and spread it evenly.

Bake ca.30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Place the cake on a rack and let cool before slicing it in 8 parts. Cut the slices in half, pour some strawberry juice on the cake (if you added some sugar to the strawberries and some juice formed), fill the slices with strawberries and whipped cream, and top the filling with the other half of the slices.

If you'd also like to serve your shortcake on a dish decorated with some cute ducks and their footprints, why don't you take a look at my store on Etsy...:)