Pro Tips: Strawberry Shortcake By: Lodge Cast Iron / April 26, 2023 For May’s Recipe of the Month, we’re serving up Fresh Strawberry Shortcake! This is a dessert that you can come back to all summer long. For a show-stopping presentation, make it in the Fluted Cake Pan. For shareable (and adorable) individual cakes, reach for the Mini Cake Pan. Check out Chef Kris Stubblefield’s pro tips and bake your way through summertime! E-mail this page Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on Twitter Print this page Pro Tip 1 Butter it up There’s nothing worse than a perfectly baked cake sticking to your pan. When you’re using a pan with an intricate design—like the Fluted Cake Pan—it’s important to carefully and evenly grease the entire surface. You’ll thank yourself for paying close attention to this step, it will make for an easy removal process. We love to use Baker’s Joy. If you don’t have it on hand, you can spread cold butter inside your pan and dust it with a little flour. Pro Tip 2 Macerate berries (sounds fancy, but it’s easy) For our Strawberry Shortcake recipe, we macerate our fruit in sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. The sugar pulls out the juices from the strawberries, making a sweet syrup. This process starts right away, but you should typically allow about 30 minutes for the fruit to soften. If you don’t have lemon juice, you can use other citrus juices like orange or lime juice, or you can use a splash of booze like gin or amaretto. And if you’re going for a savory topping for a salad or bruschetta, you can macerate the berries in a little bit of your favorite vinegar. Pro Tip 3 Get your drizzle on! Add an extra tablespoon of sugar to your macerated berries and blend them until they’re very smooth. Resist the urge to drink this (trust us it smells and tastes delicious), you’ll use it as a drizzle when you plate your shortcake. Pro Tip 4 Chill out before you whip up Chill your cooking tools and ingredients before you make whipped cream. Just stick your mixing bowl, whisk beaters, and cream in the freezer for about 10 minutes prior to beating. Using very cold ingredients will help your whipped cream come together. Keeping the fat in the cream cold helps trap air bubbles, which makes your whipped cream light and fluffy. If the cream gets too warm and the fat begins to melt, the air escapes and your whipped cream won’t be as full. Pro Tip 5 Take the cake—without breaking it Turning out your cake can be the most intimidating part of the baking process. Take a deep breath. We’ve got you. Set the wire rack on top of your pan. Using heat protection, hold both the pan and the rack together, and flip them over to turn out the cake (or cakes if you’re using the Mini Cake Pan!). Let's cook! Put our pro tips and helpful tricks to work in your kitchen. Pro Tips: Goat Cheese Frittata Check out Chef Kris Stubblefield’s pro tips and cook your way through two frittata recipes—just promise you’ll save us a plate. Pro Tips: Chicken Parmesan One of our favorite things about learning a new recipe is adding a few techniques to our toolkit. For our first-ever Recipe of the Month, we talk to Chef Kris Stubblefield for his expert tips. Why Bake in Cast Iron The pan you choose has a lot to do with how heat travels to and through what you’re baking, and therefore has a big influence on your results. Tips for Baking in a Cast Iron Cake Pan Baking in a cast iron fluted cake pan is similar to baking in other cake pans, however there are a few key differences. Tips for Making Bread in Cast Iron If you've ever wanted to try your hand at making bread in cast iron, you're in luck! How to Roast Veggies Done right, fresh vegetables can steal the show. How to Make a Cast Iron Skillet Pizza Nothing cooks pizza like cast iron, and the skillet pizza craze is far from over. Contributed By: Lodge Cast Iron We hope you enjoy our stories and recipes! Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and tag your Instagram food photos with #lodgecastiron for a chance to be featured on our feed! Get $10 off any $50+ order!* While you're shopping, become a Pan Fan today and sign up for our newsletter! *Coupon code will be sent to your email after you sign up for our newsletter! New sign ups only. Sign Up By submitting your information, you are agreeing to Lodge Cast Iron’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Please try again.
Pro Tips: Strawberry Shortcake By: Lodge Cast Iron / April 26, 2023 For May’s Recipe of the Month, we’re serving up Fresh Strawberry Shortcake! This is a dessert that you can come back to all summer long. For a show-stopping presentation, make it in the Fluted Cake Pan. For shareable (and adorable) individual cakes, reach for the Mini Cake Pan. Check out Chef Kris Stubblefield’s pro tips and bake your way through summertime! E-mail this page Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on Twitter Print this page Pro Tip 1 Butter it up There’s nothing worse than a perfectly baked cake sticking to your pan. When you’re using a pan with an intricate design—like the Fluted Cake Pan—it’s important to carefully and evenly grease the entire surface. You’ll thank yourself for paying close attention to this step, it will make for an easy removal process. We love to use Baker’s Joy. If you don’t have it on hand, you can spread cold butter inside your pan and dust it with a little flour. Pro Tip 2 Macerate berries (sounds fancy, but it’s easy) For our Strawberry Shortcake recipe, we macerate our fruit in sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. The sugar pulls out the juices from the strawberries, making a sweet syrup. This process starts right away, but you should typically allow about 30 minutes for the fruit to soften. If you don’t have lemon juice, you can use other citrus juices like orange or lime juice, or you can use a splash of booze like gin or amaretto. And if you’re going for a savory topping for a salad or bruschetta, you can macerate the berries in a little bit of your favorite vinegar. Pro Tip 3 Get your drizzle on! Add an extra tablespoon of sugar to your macerated berries and blend them until they’re very smooth. Resist the urge to drink this (trust us it smells and tastes delicious), you’ll use it as a drizzle when you plate your shortcake. Pro Tip 4 Chill out before you whip up Chill your cooking tools and ingredients before you make whipped cream. Just stick your mixing bowl, whisk beaters, and cream in the freezer for about 10 minutes prior to beating. Using very cold ingredients will help your whipped cream come together. Keeping the fat in the cream cold helps trap air bubbles, which makes your whipped cream light and fluffy. If the cream gets too warm and the fat begins to melt, the air escapes and your whipped cream won’t be as full. Pro Tip 5 Take the cake—without breaking it Turning out your cake can be the most intimidating part of the baking process. Take a deep breath. We’ve got you. Set the wire rack on top of your pan. Using heat protection, hold both the pan and the rack together, and flip them over to turn out the cake (or cakes if you’re using the Mini Cake Pan!). Let's cook! Put our pro tips and helpful tricks to work in your kitchen. Pro Tips: Goat Cheese Frittata Check out Chef Kris Stubblefield’s pro tips and cook your way through two frittata recipes—just promise you’ll save us a plate. Pro Tips: Chicken Parmesan One of our favorite things about learning a new recipe is adding a few techniques to our toolkit. For our first-ever Recipe of the Month, we talk to Chef Kris Stubblefield for his expert tips. Why Bake in Cast Iron The pan you choose has a lot to do with how heat travels to and through what you’re baking, and therefore has a big influence on your results. Tips for Baking in a Cast Iron Cake Pan Baking in a cast iron fluted cake pan is similar to baking in other cake pans, however there are a few key differences. Tips for Making Bread in Cast Iron If you've ever wanted to try your hand at making bread in cast iron, you're in luck! How to Roast Veggies Done right, fresh vegetables can steal the show. How to Make a Cast Iron Skillet Pizza Nothing cooks pizza like cast iron, and the skillet pizza craze is far from over. Contributed By: Lodge Cast Iron We hope you enjoy our stories and recipes! Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and tag your Instagram food photos with #lodgecastiron for a chance to be featured on our feed!
