Our First Baking - Strawberry Shortcake

I bought the ingredients & bakewares needed for our FIRST BAKING!  We are trying our hands on the simple (it look simple on the book) Strawberry Shortcake.  Actually I show the bake book to Little DinoEgg and he choose this as the photo shows strawberries =)

Usborne Children's Book of Baking Cake

We bought the ingredients yesterday, planned to start early today but suddenly realized we forgot the butter.  I wanted to head out of the house to buy but it was raining heavily in the morning, only managed to leave the house at 7.30am.  Luckily the neighbourhood mall is just 7mins walk from our house. Oh ya we forgot to get the iciing sugar too.

We did not start till 9am.  The very excited Little DinoEgg dashes off to his room to bring his stool to the kitchen.  I got influenced by his excitement that I forgot to sift the flour :(  We worked well as a team *Read - I did not scold Little DinoEgg through out the whole session*, with me measuring the ingredients and he mix, squash, beat, roll and cut.  After that, he seems satisfied and ran off to watch his tv. while I butter the baking tray, place the cut dough on it and look for daddy to help me with the oven (I still do not know how to operate it though I read through the manual) 

The dough went into to oven (with daddys help) and I sat in front of it waiting... for 10mins... eyes staring at the dough being baked in the oven.  As the time passes, the aroma reaches my nose and I was very excited! Ding!  And I asked daddy's help to bring the tray out *hot hot hot*  We let it cool for a while, the anxious daddy keep checking the shortcake to see if it is cool enough to cut it into half.  He eager to taste the shortcake.

When the shortcake is finally cool enough to handle, daddy cut them into half and proceed to cut the strawberries into thin slices.  Little DinoEgg join us in the kitchen to put the strawberries on the shortcake after daddy put on the cream.  

So slightly over an hour later, our Strawberry Shortcakes are done!

We sat down to enjoy the shortcakes, Little DinoEgg of course says that its delicious.  Daddy & me feel that its not sweet enough, perhaps its baking book for children thus they hold back on the sugar?  Both of us find the shortcake a little bit weird.  Its hard on the outside but soft in the inside, we compare it with the photo in the bake book and confirmed that its different.  Being noob baker, we really don't know if this is the correct texture for the shortcake.  Its a tad too dry, daddy say perhaps its coz I did not sift the self rising flour.  Really have no idea.  Have to ask the expert baker friends =)

*Sharing the recipe*

Ingredients

For the shortcakes

225g (8oz) self raising flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

50g (2oz) butter

25g (1oz) caster sugar

1 medium egg

5 tablespoon of milk

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence

extra milk, for brushing

For the filling

225g (8oz) strawberries

150ml (1/4 pint) double or whipping cream