Mini Strawberry Shortcakes

I had a bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer, and was trying to decide what to do with them. I usually like my strawberries fresh, but I thought that I might be able to incorporate them into a dessert. I decided to make a version of strawberry shortcake from scratch. This is also an easy dessert to put together if you are in a hurry, as you can also buy some of the ingredients pre-made and just assemble them yourself. Shhhh, nobody has to know! I made a pound cake for this recipe, as I like the richness of the buttery pound cake with the light freshness of the fruit. You may also use actual shortcake for the recipe, if you prefer.

Ingredients:
8 - 3/4 inch slices of homemade pound cake (you may use store-bought, if you prefer)
(I will post a separate recipe for this a little later)
15-20 strawberries, halved (if frozen, defrost them first)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup whipped cream (see below for recipe, or you may use store-bought)
mint sprigs for garnish (optional)

To macerate the strawberries, add them to a medium sized bowl with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Cover and set aside.

...with sugar just added

...after about 30 minutes

You can cut the pound cake slices into whichever shapes you like, or leave them as is. I cut a few into rectangles by removing the edges and a few into circles using a large cookie cutter.








Whipped cream:
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons white sugar

To prepare the whipped cream, add the heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of sugar to a mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream on high until it forms soft peaks. (You may also do this by hand using a whisk, but that requires some serious elbow grease!) It is important to refrigerate this if you won't be using it right away, or it may deflate.

To assemble the cakes, place on pound cake slice on a plate. Add a few strawberries with their liquid on top, and then a dollop of the fresh whipped cream. Place another cake slice on top, and another dollop of whipped cream. Finally, add some more strawberry pieces and top with a sprig of mint. Serve immediately.