An expert pastry chef deconstructs the perfect strawberry shortcake

If there was a dish that could single-handedly signal the arrival of summer, it would have to be strawberry shortcake. From the preparation of the berries themselves to a logical compromise in the longstanding "biscuit versus sponge cake" shortcake debate, this expert also provides tips for making a good dessert even better. "Macerating basically means that you're mixing the strawberries with sugar and maybe some other things — like lemon juice and vanilla extract, too — and then letting them sit on the counter," she says. "For me, one of the real high points of a strawberry shortcake is that juice that sinks into the cake," Stankiewicz says. Shortcake Everybody does the "shortcake" portion of strawberry shortcake a little bit differently, typically ending up in either sweet biscuit or sponge cake territory.