Preheat oven to 200C. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and 3 tablespoons castor sugar in a bowl. Add butter to dry ingredients and use your fingertips to crumble butter into flour. Whisk egg into cream, and pour into flour mixture a little at a time, using a fork to mix. You may not need all the eggy cream to make the dough come together, so add it carefully.

When dough comes together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll gently to a thickness of about 2 centimetres. Dip a 6.5-centimetre round cutter in flour and cut out as many rounds as you can. Work scraps back into a dough, reroll and finish cutting out - you should get 8 rounds.

Place shortcakes about 2.5 centimetres apart on a greased or lined baking sheet, brush tops with egg white and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons castor sugar. You can cover and refrigerate them now for up to 2 hours before baking.

When ready, bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden-brown, and let them cool briefly on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, crush half the strawberries with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, add balsamic vinegar if using, and halve or quarter the remaining strawberries, depending on their size.

The shortcakes should be eaten while still warm, so split each one across the middle, cover with a spoonful of the crushed strawberry mixture, add a few halved or quartered strawberries, then dollop some whipped cream or creme fraiche on top, and put the top back on.

Serves 8