Editing Shortcake (section)

==History==
[[File:Strawberry shortcake from Gibson's Steakhouse in Chicago, Illinois.jpg|alt=Strawberry shortcake from Gibson's Steakhouse in Chicago, Illinois|thumb|Strawberry shortcake from Gibson's Steakhouse in [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]]]]
The ''short'' part of the name ''shortcake'' indicates something crumbly or crispy, generally through the addition of a fat such as butter or lard.<ref name="Purvis">{{cite news |last1=Purvis |first1=Kathleen |title=The long and short of the classic shortcake |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-07-18-0707160458-story.html |access-date=13 February 2022 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=July 18, 2007 |language=en}}</ref> The earliest printed mention of the descriptive term ''short'' – as in ''short cake'' – occurred in 1588, in the second English cookbook to be printed, ''The Good Huswifes Handmaid for Cookerie in her Kitchen'' (London, 1588).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Roufs |first1=Timothy G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_eCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA365 |title=Sweet Treats around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture |last2=Roufs |first2=Kathleen Smyth |date=2014-07-29 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-221-2 |pages=365 |language=en |quote=The "short" in shortcake comes from the 15th-century British usage meaning crumbly like, the first mention of which, as "short cake", appeared in London in 1588.}}</ref> However, that recipe describes an [[leavening agent|unleavened]] cookie or [[biscuit]] (in the English sense), made of flour, cream, sugar, egg yolk and spices.<ref name="Marks">{{cite news |last1=Marks |first1=Gil |title=Strawberry Shortcake - History and Recipe |url=https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/history-strawberry-shortcake-recipe/ |access-date=13 February 2022 |work=Tori Avey |date=30 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="Huswifes">{{cite web |title=A Good Huswifes Handmaide, 1594 |url=https://www.foodsofengland.info/book1594huswife.html |website=Foods of England |access-date=21 April 2025}}</ref>

Strawberries were first included in a recipe for "Strawberry cake" which appeared in the June 1, 1845, issue (page 86) of ''The Ohio Cultivator'' (Columbus). The recipe was popularized by [[Eliza Leslie]] of [[Philadelphia]] in ''The Lady's Receipt-book'' (1847). These "Strawberry cakes" were made of a thick unleavened cookie of flour, butter, eggs and sugar, split, layered with fresh strawberries, and covered with a hard sugar-and-egg white icing.<ref name="Marks"/><ref name="Leslie">{{cite book |last1=Leslie |first1=Eliza |title=The lady's receipt-book: a useful companion for large or small families |date=1847 |publisher=Carey and Hart |location=Philadelphia |pages=198–199 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044087429015&view=1up&seq=204&skin=2021 |access-date=13 February 2022}}</ref>

The North American introduction of [[baking soda]] and [[baking powder]] as [[leaven]] in the 1800s revolutionized baking and made possible the biscuit-style shortcake.<ref name="Civitello">{{cite book |last1=Civitello |first1=Linda |title=Baking powder wars : the cutthroat food fight that revolutionized cooking |date=2017 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Urbana |isbn=978-0252041082 |pages=45, 70–74}}</ref> By the 1850s, leavened shortcakes were the popular pastry for American strawberry cakes, and the term strawberry shortcake became established.<ref name="Marks"/>

By the 1860s, cream was being poured onto the shortcake and strawberries. A June 1862 issue of the ''Genesse Farmer'' (Rochester) described a "Strawberry Shortcake" made up of layers of soda biscuit, fresh berries, sugar, and cream. A similar recipe appeared in ''[[Jennie June's American Cookery Book]]'' (1866) by [[Jane Cunningham Croly]].<ref name="Marks"/> The first known cookbook by a black woman in the United States, ''A Domestic Cook Book'' (1866) by [[Malinda Russell]],<ref name="Levins">{{cite web |last1=Levins |first1=Sandy |title=Author of First Cookbook Written by an African American: Malinda Russell |url=https://wednesdayswomen.com/author-of-first-cookbook-written-by-an-african-american-malinda-russell/ |website=WednesdaysWomen |access-date=1 February 2022 |date=31 March 2021}}</ref> also contains a recipe.<ref name="Russell">{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Malinda |title=A domestic cook book: containing a careful selection of useful receipts for the kitchen by Malinda Russell, an experienced cook, Paw Paw, Michigan, 1866: a facsimile of the first known cookbook by an African American. |date=2007 |publisher=William L. Clements Library |isbn=978-1-4255-8881-6 |page=12 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073926647&view=1up&seq=30&skin=2021 |access-date=13 February 2022}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Strawberry Shortcake (13917733299).jpg | American-style strawberry shortcake with a biscuit base
File:Strawberry shortcake with whipcream.jpg | American-style strawberry shortcake with a sponge cake base
File:Strawberry short cake（ストロベリーショートケーキ） (2874857378).jpg | Asian-style [[strawberry cake]]
File:Strawberry Cake.JPG | Asian-style strawberry cake
</gallery>