I like dark chocolate with strawberries :-)

Will the biscuits (I'm guessing you mean the US quick bread kind, not "biscuits" in the British sense) be short enough?

I just cannot picture strawberry shortcake without whipped cream..... But I suppose ice cream is a good replacement.

Are these individual shortcakes? If so,are you set on just one sauce? I would offer a few and let people choose which they would prefer. FWIW I don't think strawberry sauce would be too much strawberry. It's a STRAWBERRY dessert after all. And a homemade strawberry sauce at that, yum! And I think lemon or orange curd would go great with strawberry. I would also make a chocolate sauce. Chocolate covered strawberries seem to be popular (NOT with me,keep your stinking fruit AWAY from my chocolate..) and it could be a play on that.

I tend to prefer to do things like that. That is, give several options and let people make it their own. Especially with dessert. The most popular feature at every family party(with the kids anyway) is my ice cream sundae bar. Everyone is happy. Let us know what you decide!

I have always had biscuits in strawberry shortcakes, although my Mother likes angel food cake instead. AnnT's scones make a nice base too, and I remember AnnT making a chocolate biscuit (scone?) as the base at least once.

I also think dark chocolate would be delicious, and do not think a strawberry sauce would be too much strawberry either. I didn't grow up with whipped cream either, Grandma just drizzled the fresh cream over the shortcake.

Annie

Strawberry short cake is made with a "short cake"....that is a biscuit. Split, lightly butttered and filled with strawberries that have been sliced and macerated with sugar, the "lid" put back on the biscuit, more berries and either whipped cream or poured heavy cream.
Or the short cake can be baked in a big round and cut into wedges, b ut that's messy.
Strawberries and angelfood cake is not "strawberry shortcake" it's strawberries with angelfood cake, delicious but not shortcake

Yes, the quickbread kind of American biscuits that are said to be like what some who speak British call "scones". We used to have a special "shortcake" which was sort of like a quatre-quarts pound cake but less eggy and probably had a little baking powder. It was short--dense and buttery--not biscuity nor spongy. In this case, however, it's the request for biscuits and strawberry ice cream that made me think I could unite them as shortcake.

Y'all are reassuring me that I could just go for whipped cream and strawberry sauce. It's not for me, anyway. Or maybe have some lemon sauce and chocolate sauce for the ice cream, in addition to the strawberries with strawberry sauce, and let the diners mix and match as they choose, but I think after a celebratory dinner, that's probably too much.

We always clean up and play cards after a dinner, and then we break for the dessert later ... gives everybody a chance to digest, nap or interact. I prefer whipping up the cream in the KA rather than the ghastly store stuff. But someone always brings a can of ready whip, and a few play a foaming of the mouth game with it ... basically whoever can amplify the 'whoosh' sound the best ...

yes, cheap, crass entertainment can be had by all

Dave you fight over the whip-its at the end?

Plllog - I’d stick with strawberries and strawberry iced cream. And yes whipped cream - you can leave it off or yours. Seems a shame to add additional flavors/sauces.

I'd make what the birthday girl wants.

When I was a kid growing up, my mom always made a pound cake for the base of our strawberries and whipped cream type dessert. I don't believe she ever made the biscuits. I have had that one time in my life(that I remember) and I definitely like the pound cake base very much better. Not a fan of the biscuit style. But, to each his own.

Agree that I'd do what the birthday girl wants.

FWIW, my parents would totally agree with Linda. To them strawberry shortcake had to be made with biscuits, and usually just with milk poured over. Cream was only for festive occasions. But if you used regular cake of any kind, that became strawberries with cake, not shortcake.

I like the idea of a mix & match shortcake 'bar'.

And why not whipped cream with the strawberry ice cream? It goes on sundaes.

I think I'd just add the ice cream as an extra layer to all the usual ingredients - an extra layer of yumminess, if you will.

As in: biscuit, ice cream, sliced & sweetened strawberries, biscuit, whipped cream, & a little more strawberries on top. Or maybe a little fudge sauce on top?

If it's a rich meal, maybe make make teeny tiny biscuits?

What the birthday girl (adult) wants is my biscuits. And my strawberry ice cream. Together or not. If she had a notion of exactly how she wanted it, this wouldn't be an issue.

So, now that I'm a bit rested up, I can better explain about the whipped cream. Ice cream, especially without gum and other stabilizers, melts really fast in the house where we'll be celebrating. It's always very hot there, on purpose. If there were going to be lovely firm scoops of ice cream on the side of the shortcake, I wouldn't have qualms about the strawberry sauce and whipped cream. As it is, the lot piled together would turn into a soupy mess. The ice cream itself will be both the cream and the strawberry sauce. But I thought not saucy enough to start with the berries and biscuits dry.

And thence the answer blooms brightly before me. Nothing like having to explain something to gain inspiration. The other night I put the sherbet in coffee mugs because I'd used up all the dessert bowls serving the dinner. It seemed less melty than usual in the thicker ceramic with the narrower opening. If I put the ice cream in the same mugs, and plate the strawberry shortcake in the usual fashion, it'll all work as separate entities without adjustment and the diners can commingle them as they please, or keep them separate. Okay, duh, but I've been sleep deprived.

Writersblock, we're from totally different regions of course, but I'd never even heard of using biscuits until a few years ago in this forum. I'd seen the sponge or angel food variations--and now, come to think of it, those are also egg rising cakes so probably an evolution from a proper shortcake.

ETA: Dave, yes, freshly whipped cream. I've tasted the spray can kind. The flavor reminds me of cellophane. :)

Writersblock, we're from totally different regions of course,

We are, yes, but my parents were from western NY state just across the PA border near Erie, so I don't think that's a regional difference. Down here I've never seen biscuits except in the homes of transplanted northerners. What they call shortcake locally is cheap store sponge cake with whipped cream and a few (usually terrible FL) strawberries on it. I've seen it done with ladyfingers in some Latin homes.

Oh, dear! Ladyfingers sounds better! I've seen those weird pucks with the divot at the store, which look like a horse designed by committee. But maybe since the strawberries are so bad, strawberry shortcake really isn't a thing. We're swimming in strawberries here, but there's peak when they taste like candy, and then there are the lemony ones and the flavorless ones at the edge of season.

Strawberry shortcake is perfect for when the berries are too good to throw into pie or compote, but still need some help. (Of course, also good for when you just want strawberry shortcake.) Cooking the strawberry sauce condenses the strawberry flavor, and if the berries are sour, you can macerate them.

amylou, that's really cute and my Mother would LOVE it!

Annie

Pillog: This is my family's favorite shortcake. It is the biscuit type, but very rich, moist, sweet and delicious!

2 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 Tbls. sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

1 beaten egg

2/3 cup light cream

3 to 4 cups sugared slice strawberries (or more)

1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Stir together dry ingredients; cut in butter till mixture is like coarse crumbs. Combine egg and cream; add all at once to dry ingredients, stirring ONLY to moisten. I sprinkle granulated sugar all over top.

Spread dough in greased 8" x 1&1/2" round pan. Bake @ 450 degrees for 15-18 minutes or till golden. Watch carefully, so not to overcook. Remove from oven and cool on rack.

I usually make this for family gatherings, so I triple the recipe. Each pan will probably make 6 nice size wedges. We then split each wedge in half and cover inside and out with macerated strawberries and home whipped cream. ( We never butter the shortcake and it's also good with just straight cream, if you are that indulgent! )

Delicious! All of my adult children have called for the recipe and it always gets raves!

So interesting reading about this subject. I must try at least one of the recipes.

I must confess that my only attempt at strawberry short cake was years ago and I mistakenly thought that short cake meant shortbread English style. So mine was a triangle of homemade shortbread with cut up strawberries on top with whipped cream on top again. It was good but apparently not the real thing.

I dunno, Neely. Even if it's not common, your version sounds good to me!

This is how I have always made my strawberry shortcake. No ice cream, must have whipped cream!

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/strawberry_shortcake/

One of the things I like about baking in the pan, rather than the individual biscuit style, is how moist it is with no crusty edges.

Awhile back I found a search string that led me to a bunch of recipes for actual shortcake, like I remember from the past. They were pretty much variations on a theme. As I suspected, much like a quatre-quarts but fewer eggs. I can't find 'em now. If I remember right, it was equal weights of flour and butter, and half that for eggs and sugar, rounding some for volume, whereas the pound cake would have equal weights of all four. Then there'd be some baking powder and maybe flavoring or whatever oddity that separates one from the next. I should try making one just for grins and giggles.