Feasting on Art

With the 4th of July just around the corner I wanted to be sure to post a couple of recipes in time for the festivities.  In the 1850′s, strawberry shortcake parties were a popular way to celebrate the arrival of summer (2). This sweet dessert is traditionally made with baking soda to produce a crumbly biscuit often referred to as a scone in the UK. For a lower calorie version of the dessert, angel food cake is used to replace the shortcake (my version includes a variant of this cake). In Japan a sponge cake is used to instead of shortcake and is commonly served at Christmas and at birthdays (3). The oldest printed reference is from Michigan from the 1840′s (4) and because I am a native Michigander it is only appropriate that I choose this dessert to celebrate the 4th!

Bryant Chapin, Still Life of Overturned Basket of Strawberries, 1922,
Oil on canvas, 33 x 43 cm, Private Collection

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Have you ever just had one of those days? Well for me, today is one of those days and this still life was one problem after another. While shopping for ingredients I was convinced that the painting depicted cranberries (which in my defense they do look like) but I arrived home to realize that they were cherries. So back I went and after visiting two grocery stores I discovered that number one, cherries are not in season (still getting used to living in the southern hemisphere), and number two, that it is impossible to even find frozen ones. Add this dilemma to the fact that I mistakenly ate the last bun I was saving for my recreation, my lack of gilded wineglasses, and that my pastry would not come together, I was convinced this vlaai would be my downfall. But let me tell you, it wasn’t. I mean, it did get a bit more toasted than I would have liked (drat unpredictable electric ovens) but the combination of strawberries and cherries made the pie wonderfully sour and the crust was like a dense but sweet cake. This is a recipe I will make again and again and I hope you forgive the use of cranberries instead of cherries. I was just having one of those days.

Osias Beert, Still-Life with Cherries and Strawberries in China Bowls, 1608
oil on copper, 50 x 66 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

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