You’ll love this classic, easy Strawberry Shortcake Recipe. The homemade shortcake biscuits are impressively soft and layered with juicy strawberries and whipped cream.
We love strawberry recipes that use plenty of strawberries, like our No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake, and this crowd-pleasing Strawberry Pretzel Salad. Strawberry shortcakes are one of the most iconic strawberry desserts, and it does not disappoint.
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Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
This traditional strawberry shortcake recipe comes together quickly and it’s made completely from scratch, which is perfect for summer because you don’t have to spend a ton of time in the kitchen making it. Just like Panna Cotta, this is completely homemade but feels like a shortcut dessert.
Shortcakes are a great party dessert because you can set them up buffet-style and let guests build their own. They are best eaten fresh, but thankfully, they are super easy to bake and assemble.
Strawberry Shortcakes Video
See how simple it is to whip up this delicious recipe. Natasha gives you all the tips to make this classic Strawberry Shortcake one of your favorite summer desserts!
What is a Strawberry Shortcake?
Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake is a stacked dessert with buttery homemade biscuits, strawberries macerated (juiced up) in sugar, and lightly sweetened soft whipped cream. The earliest recipe for strawberry shortcake dates back to the 1500s. It is popularly made with strawberries, but you can substitute them with other berries or sliced stone fruit like peaches (see our suggestions below!).
Homemade biscuits are so easy to make, and if you haven’t tried them, you are in for a treat! They exceed store-bought ‘bisquick’ in taste and quality.
Ingredients
Strawberry shortcake recipes include three parts: buttery, fluffy homemade biscuit, macerated strawberries, and whipped cream. These three ingredients are so easy to make, but together, they taste out of this world!
Substitutions
While this classic dessert is perfect just as written, try these swaps for a quick twist on the traditional dish.
- Swap the Fruit – Fresh blueberries, raspberries, diced mangos, peaches or our easy Cherry Sauce would taste great in place of the strawberries. Or for a fall twist, try Sauteed Apples and Caramel Sauce.
- Flavored Cream – Fold citrus zest into the whipped cream for a fresh flavor twist
- Garnish – Add a few basil leaves for a pretty and elevated presentation.
How to Make Strawberry Shortcakes
This classic strawberry shortcake recipe is best when the elements are made from scratch–and it’s just so easy! It starts with homemade biscuits and what sets these apart from our classic Biscuits is a teensy bit of vanilla and a little more sugar since these are meant to be served as a dessert.
Step 1: Make the Biscuits
- Sift together the dry ingredients with a sieve: flour, baking powder, sugar and salt
- Cut in the Butter – Add COLD butter into dry ingredients until coarse crumbs form. You can use a pastry cutter or a food processor.
- Combine milk, cream, and vanilla and drizzle over flour mixture. Mix until it starts coming together.
- Transfer to a floured surface, pat into a rectangle, fold in half, and repeat.
- Cover with a tea towel and rest 30 minutes at room temperature then pat into a 5″x10″ rectangle (3/4″ tall). Use a 2 1/2″ round cookie cutter or shark knife to cut out biscuits and bake.
Pro Tip:
For the best-rising biscuits, dip the biscuit cutter into flour with every biscuit you cut and push the cutter STRAIGHT DOWN without twisting.
Step 2: Macerate Strawberries
Mix the sliced strawberries with sugar while your dough is resting. This allows the strawberries to macerate and juice up in the refrigerator, forming a natural strawberry syrup that is so good soaked into the biscuits.
Step 3: Make Whipped Cream
In a cold mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Watch my video tutorial on How to Make Whipped Cream.
Step 4: Serve Individual Strawberry Shortcakes
Slice the biscuit using a fork to pierce around the center, then spoon macerated strawberries over the base, followed by sweetened whipped cream. Cover with the top of the biscuit the spoon on more whipped cream and strawberries.
Serving a crowd? You can also lay out a tray of biscuits, a bowl of strawberries, and a dish of whipped cream allowing guests to serve themselves buffet-style.
Make-Ahead
To make it simple to serve this dessert to a crowd, you can make each element ahead.
- Make the biscuits a day or two ahead, or make and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Stir the strawberries with the sugar and store the mixture in the fridge for up to a day ahead.
- Whipped cream stays fresh for a few hours in the fridge. Make it before the party leaving the cream with slightly softer peaks, and then finish whipping to soft peaks right before serving.
Classic Strawberry Shortcake is such a beautiful and fun dessert to serve at your next gathering. The taste of homemade biscuits, macerated strawberries, and homemade whipped cream is worth every moment it takes to make them from scratch.
More Easy Strawberry Recipes
We always have a ton of sweet, delicious strawberries during strawberry season. After you try this Strawberry Shortcake Recipe, treat yourself to these other delicious strawberry recipes!
- Easy Strawberry Cake
- Strawberry Lemonade
- Strawberry Sauce
- Strawberry Scones
- Chocolate Covered Strawberries
- Strawberry Smoothie
Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Ingredients
Shortcake Biscuits:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more to dust
- 1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold, diced
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, cold
- 1/2 cup milk, cold
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Macerated Strawberries:
- 1 1/2 lbs strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
Whipped Cream
- 1 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
How to Make Biscuits
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients then sift together. Add 5 Tbsp diced cold butter and cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or with a food processor until it resembles course crumbs.
- Stir together 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup heavy cream, and 1/2 tsp vanilla and pour over flour mixture. Fold together with wooden spoon until dough starts coming together then turn out onto a well-floured surface.
- Pat into a rectangle. Fold in half and pat down slightly into another rectangle. Fold in half a second time and pat down into a rectangle. Cover with a tea towel and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature (65˚-75˚F).
- Preheat the oven to 425˚and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently pat into a 5” x 10” rectangle (3/4” thickness). Use a floured 2 1/2" round cutter to cut out 8 rounds. Dip in flour with each cut and push straight down into the dough without twisting the cutter.
- Transfer rounds to lined baking sheet, 1/2” apart and Bake at 425˚F for 13-15 minutes or until golden on top. Cool biscuits on a rack for 10 minutes before assembling.
Macerate Strawberries
- Slice strawberries and place into a large bowl. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Make Whipped Cream
- In a mixing bowl, beat together 1 cup cold heavy cream with 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla for about 2 minutes on medium/high speed or until medium-soft peaks form.
How to Assemble Strawberry Shortcakes
- Split biscuit in half. Add strawberries with some sauce. Top with generous dollop of cream. Cover with biscuit top, add more cream and strawberries.
Notes
- Make the biscuits 2-3 days ahead if stored in an airtight container on the counter, or in the freezer for 3 months.
- Strawberries can be mixed with sugar and stored in the fridge for 24 hours.
- You can make the whipped cream a few hours ahead by whipping the cream slightly less than soft peaks. Cover and store in the refrigerator, and then finish whipping just before serving.
Nutrition Per Serving
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So delicious!! Thank you!!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed that Julie!
So easy to do and absolutely delicious……it looked prettier than I’d imagined…..thanks for the recipe
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for that wonderful review!
I have made several things of your website-they are delicious and your videos are great. you should be on food network. keep them coming.
You’re so nice! Thank you!
Love your videos! Your recipes are the best
Can you link your bench scraper that you use in most of your videos?
I think that’s what it’s called. Thank you
Hi Tracy, we use this scraper here.
So good and amazing. My reaction was just like yours in the video lol. My kids absolutely loved it. Biscuits were wonderful and perfect toppings, to satisfy and please everyone!
That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great!
I recently found you through a recipe my cousin shared on FB. I made your Strawberry Shortcake as my first and I just want to thank you! I have 3 kids and 2 of them are picky eaters (my youngest is 7 months so can’t be picky yet). Your strawberry shortcake not only was liked and EATEN by all the family members, the biscuit was EATEN this morning as well. Aaahhhh, I couldn’t believe it!!! I cried. So, thank you. I can’t wait to try all your recipes and cry more tears of joy.
That’s so awesome! I love the idea of repurposing biscuits for next day breakfast!
How can I find your roast beef recipe. The one you cook in the oven on a cookie sheet with asparagus and small quartered potatoes all around it. Wish I had your cookbook with all your recipes in it. I really love everything you cook.
Hi Carolee, we have a Roast Beef recipe here. I hope that helps.
Really loved your strawberry cake recipe.
Actually I am fond of Chocolates and strawberries. I always prefer to order online whenever I feel the craving. I will definitely gonna try your recipes if it works for me otherwise I usually order from winni.in
You can also have a look on the site maybe you can get many more cake ideas.
Thank you for sharing that with me, Aanchal! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I’m a new viewer to your site. I’ve made a few of your recipes with success. My family loves the results. I will def try this shortcake recipe soon! I love your videos and recipes, I also love your laughter and when you taste test your dish. Keep up the good work!!!
You are so nice. Thank you for that awesome feedback!
I have whole strawberries in the freezer would that work to make with this recipe? I’ve never made strawberry shortcake before. For the biscuits can I make my own heavy cream or buttermilk? I’ve made my own biscuits a few times but didn’t know about not twisting the cutters thanks for the tip.
Hi, frozen strawberries would work fine, but frozen do tend to discolor faster so keep that in mind. I haven’t tried this particular recipe with buttermilk, but you can use your favorite buttermilk biscuit recipe as a base and assemble them as strawberry shortcakes.
Can we use normal cream instead of whipping cream?
Hi Maryam, I haven’t tested it using a different cream to advise. If you do an experiment please share with us how it goes.
Strawberry shortcake is one of the most delicious treats you can make with fresh strawberries! The trick is to find the ripest, sweetest strawberries you can find and then finish it off with homemade whipped cream.
Hello Natasha,
I am a regular follower to your recipes. The recipe you have sharing is really new to me. Keep sharing like this am regularly waiting for your recipe.
Thank you for that thoughtful feedback and support!
hi do you use 15ml tablespoons or 20ml thanks this is an old favourite of mine keen to try yours love .
Hi Betty, 1 Tbsp = 15 ml. I hope you love the strawberry shortcake recipe.
I love your recipes and love your personality!
Hi Ann, thank you so much for your inspiring and encouraging comment. I sure appreciate it and I’m so glad you are enjoying our recipes.
yummy.. I made this Shortcake this evening. My daughter and I both took a bite and at the same nodded our heads and said yummmmm. Thank you so much for the recipe. I enjoy watching you make delicious dishes❤
Hi Debbie, I am so happy you both loved the strawberry shortcake recipe! Thank you for that amazing review. I’m smiling big reading your comment.
A huge favorite of mine. Yum!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
This is what summers are made of! The perfect dessert to end the day.
It sure is! Thank you for sharing that awesome review with us!
So yummy! We love to make this when we can find the best, sweet strawberries!
That is the best! Thank you for the wonderful review Cindy!
Yes! Totally using our leftover biscuits for the morning. I also drizzled a couple of tablespoons of butter after I pulled them out of the oven. And totally made them pop!
Strawberry shortcake has always been my favorite and this recipe was INCREDIBLE! Just like my grandmother’s!
That’s so awesome, Lauren! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
This Strawberry Shortcake recipe was so easy and delicious! I will definitely be making it again.
Hi Echo, I’m so happy you loved the strawberry shortcake recipe! Thank you for sharing your amazing review.