Sweet basil and strawberry shortcake mess

Ingredients

For the strawberry:

• 500g strawberries (2 punnets), very ripe
• 3 Tbsp caster sugar
• 2 Tbsp sweet basil leaves, plus extra for decorating

For the shortcake:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch baking soda
• 1 Tbsp caster sugar
• pinch salt
• ¾ cup thickened cream

For the cream:

• 1 cup thickened cream
• 1 Tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Method

1. Stem the strawberries. Take half the strawberries, chop roughly and place in a large mixing bowl. Crush with a potato masher until it’s a chunky wet pulp. Slice the remaining strawberries neatly and add to the mix, along with sugar. Slice basil leaves and add to the mix, stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 200ºC fan forced. Sift together plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. In a large mixing bowl. Add cream and gently stir until it’s just combined. Place mix in a baking paper lined square brownie tin or round cake tin. Bake for 16–18 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Once cool, break roughly into inch sized cubes.
3. Place cream, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form.
4. Take serving glasses and split half the shortcake amongst them, then top with half the strawberry mix, and half the cream. Repeat with remaining halves. Garnish with a few extra sweet basil leaves.

Recipe supplied by Yates. For more information visit Yates.