Confession: I’m crazy about shortcake. But for the past several years, I’ve dallied between numerous recipes without being able to settle on one.

I grew up on a sweet sponge cake version, which is called “Never Fail Cake” and always sunk in the middle for me. Tasty though. Then there’s Shelia’s drier cake, more like a slightly sweet biscuit. And Vonnie’s crumb cake, which we liked for the sugar crumbs but I never baked quite right: the crumbs burned before the cake was done, kind of thing.

For our first shortcake this year, I started fresh. I began with Never Fail Cake (adjusted according to last year’s notes), which has become a truly delicious, moist cake. One that does not fall in the middle (since I tweaked the fat content and rising agent). One that does not, as Mr. Putter would say, break your toe if you drop it. A light and airy cake.

But I topped the cake batter, on a whim, with half a batch of crumbs for fruit pie: my sister’s mother-in-law’s recipe. (She has a great title, eh? She also goes by my brother-in-law’s mother and my nephews’ grandmother, and there’s more where that came from.)

The crumbs are lovely, with brown sugar and butter, and a few oats and pecans. They turn into a fantastic streusel on top of the cake. (If amounts below are doubled, they’re also great on pie.) Definitely good enough to be eaten warm from the oven, without strawberries, as a coffee cake. But with berries, it’s Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Try it? Let me know what you think.

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Strawberry Streusel Shortcake

Ingredients

Cake

• 4 Tbsp butter softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk

Streusel

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 2 1/2 Tbsp butter melted
• 2 Tbsp old-fashioned oats
• 1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer.

2. Add egg and beat until fluffy.

3. Add remaining ingredients, and mix only until well combined.

4. Place batter in a greased 9×9" pan.

5. In a separate bowl, stir streusel ingredients together with a fork. Sprinkle over cake batter.

6. Bake at 350* for 22-25 min till done (using toothpick test).

7. Serve with fresh strawberries, and milk or whipped cream.