What's For Dessert? Strawberry Shortcake

Maybe it's a little early in the season for some, but it's been warm here the last few days and I've been thinking about summer.  We've been doing yardwork, playing outside, and even playing in the sprinkler today briefly. 

Well, with summer comes strawberry shortcake.  I know this is a fairly simple recipe for some people, but for me, I had never made the cake myself.  So, I thought I'd share this with the community. 

Found the recipe on About.com Southern Food.  I hope y'all find this as useful and as yummy as we do.  Oh, I was worried that this cake wouldn't taste like what I was used to, but it was perfect.  It was exactly the way I grew up eating shortcake. 

An old fashioned strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries and a baked 8-inch round split shortcake.

• 1 quart fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
• 1 cup sugar
• vanilla ice cream
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup milk

Slice strawberries; sprinkle with sugar and let stand. Heat oven to 450°. Grease an 8-inch round layer-cake pan. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or 2 forks until crumbly.

I wish I had taken a picture, but I didn't think about it because I was too excited about eating it.  Maybe next time!