Strawberry Shortcake

Just for fun, I submitted my Strawberry Shortcake recipe to Create & Decorate. Going through my emails this morning, I see that they chose the winner randomly among all the submissions. I figured I'd pop over real quick to check out the winner and see their strawberry recipe. What I didn't figure on or expect was that I won!!! I won a year's subscription to the Create & Decorate magazine!!! How exciting is that?!?

Here's my favorite strawberry recipe:

Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced fresh strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

Vegetable cooking spray

1/4 cup margarine, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg, separated

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup skim milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg white

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups thawed, reduced-calorie frozen whipped topping

Garnish: Strawberry fan

• Combine strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar; cover and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Coat a 9-inch round cakepan with vegetable cooking spray; dust with flour, and set prepared pan aside.
• Beat margarine at medium speed with an electric mixer until soft, gradually add 1/3 cup sugar, beating well. Add egg yolk, beating just until blended. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
• Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add  2 tablespoons sugar, one at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Stir about 1/2 cup beaten egg whites into batter; fold in remaining egg whites. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wood pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan; let cool completely on a wire rack.
• Slice shortcake in half horizontally. Place bottom half, cut side up, on a serving plate. Drain strawberries, reserving juice, and drizzle half of juice over bottom layer. Set aside 1 tablespoon whipped topping, spread 3/4 cup whipped topping over cake layer, and arrange half of strawberries over topping. Top with remaining cake layer, cut side down, and repeat procedure. Dollop with reserved 1 tablespoon whipped topping; garnish with strawberry fan.

I hope you try this recipe. I've been making this for years and it is always a hit!!!