Strawberry Shortcake

Sweetened fresh strawberries on top of freshly baked biscuits with a finishing touch of homemade whipped cream make this Strawberry Shortcake recipe the perfect summer dessert! Grab those fresh strawberries and make this for a sweet treat today.

Homemade strawberry shortcake made from scratch today! This is the ultimate summer dessert and one of my favorite ways to use fresh strawberries. Sweet fruit piled on top of homemade biscuits and topped with soft whipped cream – it just screams summer, don’t you think?

I am all about strawberries in the summer – strawberry pie, ice cream, cake, dessert salads… and that’s just a few of my strawberry recipes! But, I have to admit there’s nothing better than classic strawberry shortcake. It’s always a hit!

If you’ve never made it yourself you are going to love this strawberry shortcake recipe. I am walking you through all of the steps so it turns out perfect every time!

What is Strawberry Shortcake?

This dessert has three parts: the biscuits, the strawberries, and the whipped cream. The ‘shortcake’ refers to the type of cake it was traditionally made with which is a crisp and crumbly cake. I’ve actually never had that way because it’s common in the US to make it with flaky and soft biscuits.

What I love about this recipe is that you can make the biscuits ahead of time. Preparing the strawberries and whipped cream is super easy so it takes no time at all to pull it together when you’re ready to serve it.

Ingredients

• Fresh strawberries
• Granulated sugar
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Very cold unsalted butter
• Buttermilk (or heavy cream)
• Heavy cream
• Coarse sugar

How to Make Homemade Biscuits

You guys know I’m the queen of shortcuts, but for strawberry shortcake, it’s worth the effort to make your own homemade biscuits! It makes a huge difference and they’re not hard to make especially if you use a food processor.

You can make them with either buttermilk or heavy cream – it’s your choice! Using either will make your biscuits really tender with a nice crumb. Using buttermilk will give them a subtle tangy flavor.

When you make biscuits it’s very important to use cold butter, so be sure yours is nice and chilled and don’t leave it out at room temperature for too long. Cutting cold butter into the dry ingredients is how you create the flaky texture for your biscuits.

If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a pastry cutter or even a fork to cut the butter into the flour, it just takes a little longer.

Place the flour, baking powder, and salt in the food processor and pulse a few times to combine. If you are doing it by hand use a whisk.

Add the butter and pulse again until the butter is worked into the dry ingredients and the mixture has a coarse texture. There will be little balls of butter which is what you want!

Pour the buttermilk or cream over the dry ingredients and mix just until the dough comes together.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and shape it into a disc. Use a flour biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits. If you don’t have one you can use a large drinking glass, too!

Brush the tops of the biscuits with buttermilk or cream and then sprinkle coarse sugar over the top. Place the biscuits close together on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake the biscuits for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are lightly golden on top. Cool them on a wire rack.

Strawberries and Whipped Cream

For the strawberries, you will want to mix them with granulated sugar and let them sit in the refrigerator. As they sit, the sugar will break them down so they release their juices. They will soften and be so juicy and delicious. The longer they sit the softer they get so I don’t recommend doing this more than an hour in advance.

For the whipped cream, just whip heavy cream with vanilla and sugar for about 10 minutes until the cream holds stiff peaks. I wrote a whole post about how to whip cream that you should check out if you want more tips!

Can you make strawberry shortcake ahead?

You can definitely make the biscuits ahead of time! The will keep for up to a week at room temperature as long as they are wrapped tightly. You can also freeze them for up to three months.

For the strawberries and whipped cream, I don’t recommend making them more than an hour in advance.

Are there any shortcuts I can use?

You can take some shortcuts if you’re short on time! Sometimes I skip the homemade whipped cream and just used whipped topping. For the biscuits, you can use canned biscuits but they’re not as good as homemade so just be aware. For the strawberries, there really aren’t any shortcuts!

Can I use frozen strawberries?

Yes, just mix them with the sugar and let them thaw in the fridge. It will take several hours so be sure to plan ahead. If your frozen strawberries are already sweetened you may want to use less sugar.

How long does strawberry shortcake keep?

If you have leftovers they will keep in the refrigerator for a day or so. The biscuits will get a little soggy from the strawberries but it will still taste delicious!

Summer is the perfect time for strawberry shortcake! I hope you love this recipe as much as I do – my family always loves it when I make it. Yours will, too!

More Amazing Summer Desserts!

• A delicious mixture of three different types of berries makes my Berry Cobbler recipe a hit all the time! It’s an easy dessert any time of the year because it uses a mixture of frozen or fresh berries and the topping is made with cake mix!
• If you are looking for a quick, easy and impressive dessert recipe you have got to make this No Bake Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake! It has an amazing Oreo crust, creamy chocolate Cheesecake and is Topped with Fresh Raspberries and Chocolate Whipped Cream! 
• This Banana Split Dessert Trifle is layered with vanilla cake and homemade pudding, then loaded up with all of your favorite banana split toppings.
• Strawberry Lemon Blossoms are mini strawberry and lemon treats dunked in a lemon sugar glaze make a perfect bake sale treat!
• Grab your strawberry pie filling, yellow cake mix and butter then bake this Strawberry Dump Cake.
• Easy Strawberry Brownies are perfectly ooey, gooey and packed with strawberry flavor. 

Try it and love it? I’d love it if you’d give it a rating below and comment.  If you snap a photo, please be sure tag me on Instagram at @julieseatsandtreats or #julieseatsandtreats so I can see your yummy treat!!