Florida strawberry shortcake
Photo: stu_spivack · CC BY-SA 2.0

History

Florida strawberry shortcake is the seasonal dish of the Plant City strawberry harvest, which runs February through April. Parkesdale Farm Market in Plant City has served the most-famous version since 1956 (a generation before the Florida Strawberry Festival, which runs every March since 1930). Tampa restaurants run shortcake specials throughout the season.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs

Make it at home

Yield 6Hands-on 30 minTotal 1 hrDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • Biscuits: 280g all-purpose flour
  • 30g granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 110g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
  • 180ml heavy cream
  • 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
  • Strawberries: 500g fresh Florida strawberries, hulled and quartered
  • 50g granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • Cream: 240ml heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

  1. Toss strawberries with sugar and lemon juice. Set aside to macerate at least 30 minutes.
  2. For biscuits: whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in cold butter until pea-sized pieces remain. Stir in heavy cream just until dough comes together.
  3. Turn dough onto a floured surface. Pat into a 2.5cm-thick round. Cut into 6 biscuits with a round cutter.
  4. Place on a baking sheet, brush tops with egg wash. Bake at 220C for 15 minutes until golden.
  5. Whip cream with powdered sugar and vanilla to soft peaks.
  6. Split each warm biscuit. Spoon macerated strawberries and their juice over the bottom half, top with whipped cream, then close with the top half. Serve immediately.

Tip from the editors. Florida strawberries (Plant City varieties Festival, Sweet Charlie, Florida Beauty) are smaller and more concentrated than the California giants. If you cannot find them, use organic California strawberries.

Where to eat florida strawberry shortcake

Florida strawberry shortcake in Tampa

Bern's Steak House ★ 4.9

$$$$ Tasting $85-185 a la carte; tasting $185SteakhouseChef Habteab Hamde (executive chef)

Bern's Steak House in Hyde Park is the 1956 dry-aged steakhouse running the largest restaurant wine cellar in the world: 500,000 bottles, 6,500 labels.

Book2-3 weeks ahead

Directions Book

Wright's Gourmet House ★ 4.4

$$ AmericanPalma Ceia

Wright's Gourmet House on South Dale Mabry has built Tampa's classic Cuban and roast-beef sandwiches plus the famous rum cake since 1963. A Tampa table.

OrderCuban sandwich pressed and a slice of the rum cake to take home.

TipPete and Marjorie Wright started the shop on April 20, 1963; the Casper family bought it in 2024 to keep it Tampa-owned.

Directions

Datz ★ 4.4

$$ $15-25BrunchComfort food gastropubPalma Ceia

Datz in South Tampa is Tampa's biggest brunch destination, with Biscuits and Crazy, Nashville Chicken Doughnut, Eggs Barbacoa and the Bacon Bloody Mary.

OrderBiscuits and Crazy: buttermilk biscuits, sausage gravy, two eggs, bacon, three potato types.

Directions Book

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