Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
Homemade strawberry shortcake is a far cry from those round flavorless discs you buy at the grocery store. Discover how to make your own homemade strawberry shortcake in a few simple steps. Just add whipped cream and dig in!
You know those round yellow cakes you buy in the bakery of the grocery store with the indention in the middle? The kind that we call “shortcake”?
Yeah, well they aren’t.
They are short alright–short on flavor, short on texture, and they are missing the mark in a ton of ways.
My guess is if we left them on the counter for an unidentified length of time they would never mold. I could use them to hold my cookbooks open on the counter. Or as doorstops. Or to hold the tires on the farm wagon.
And that worries me a little.
I’ve been making my shortcake for strawberries from scratch for a really long time. To me, it’s easier to whip this up. Takes 30 minutes and you only need one bowl and no mixer.
It’s pretty much dump, mix and bake.
For the pictures you see here, I baked a couple of round cakes in small ramekins. You can use a muffin tin if you would like, but the original recipe calls for an 8×8 pan and serves about 6 people–it’s just as easy to do it that way and cut squares.
Tips for easy strawberry shortcake
- Use a good whipped cream with yours. You can make it from scratch with a recipe like this one, or you can buy it in a spray can. I’m just not a fan of Cool Whip though. Even though we love it, there’s not a drop of real cream in that. It’s whipped oil. Boo.
- Once you stop seeing pockets of raw flour in your batter, stop mixing. You don’t want to make strawberry shortcake bricks. Keep them tender and soft with gentle mixing.
- Use any fruit you like with these little gems. Fresh peaches in summer, strawberries, blueberries. Yikes I love it. In the winter, you could even cook down some frozen fruit and pour it warm over the top of the cakes.
How to prepare the strawberries for your strawberry shortcake recipe
This is a snap. Wash your strawberries, and cut off of the leaves and stems. You can just cut a bit of the top off–that’s easiest. Then cut your berries in half or in slices depending on how large they are.
If you want to have some sweet juice to drizzle over your shortcake, put your berries in a bowl and add a few tablespoons of sugar.
Let them sit about 15 minutes and they will release their own juice you can spoon over the cakes.
If you don’t want juice, you can toss the berries in some sugar and serve immediately, or leave off the sugar altogether.
Slimy strawberries? Don’t panic–open a can!
Have you ever gotten home with a big container of strawberries from the grocery only to discover that they are bruised to pieces or hiding moldy, mashed ones in the center? What a waste of money and your time if you have to run back to the store for more.
I live over an hour round trip from a grocery store so those kinds of mishaps can really derail my dinner plans.
But now I have a backup on hand so I never have to worry.
About 8 years ago I discovered how much I loved freeze dried strawberries in shortcake. Instead of spending time cutting huge bruises and mold out of store bought ones that have been carted all over the country for weeks, I can crack open a can of strawberries that were picked and frozen right from the field, add some warm water and sugar and in no time they are ready to top my shortcakes.
It’s almost dangerous to have them on hand because you can have shortcake even when strawberries are out of season at the grocery store.
Bursting with quality whenever you need them.
Freeze dried strawberries give you the flexibility to make the best shortcakes with fruit that was harvested at the peak of freshness.
So go ahead, make a shortcake whenever the craving strikes. It will be perfect. Grab a can of my favorite freeze dried strawberries.
Are you ready to dig in? Get started and then leave me a comment and let me know how you loved them!
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350, and lightly grease an 8×8 pan or 10 spaces on a muffin tin.
- Cream the butter and sugar with a spoon, beating well until the mixture is light and slightly fluffy. About 40 strokes around the bowl or so.
- Add the buttermilk,eggs and vanilla and mix well.
- Using a sifter sitting over the bowl, add the flour, salt, and baking powder to the sifter and tap the dry ingredients into the wet ones.
- Mix with a spoon until no dry clumps of flour remain.
- Bake 25-30 minutes for the 8×8 pan or 15-20 minutes for the muffin tin until the cake springs back and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Serve slightly warm with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.
This was soooo good I had to share it on Facebook!
Thank you for sharing it Julie and I’m so glad you liked it! –Rachel
I followed the recipe exactly as written. It was delicious and will be my shortcake recipe from now on.
I wondering if using less sugar would affect the taste too much? The cake was almost too sweet for me. Would 1/2 cup sugar yield the same results? Thanks!
Hey Susan, I reduce the sugar too but you can’t take it too far since sugar is responsible for texture, rise and moisture in addition to sweetness. when I reduce the sugar sometimes it makes the cake a bit rubbery but you can try it and see what works for you. –Rachel
Just like Rachel said, No more store-made shortcakes for us. Made it and had a request for a repeat performance the next week. I didn’t have buttermilk so added a 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 c. milk for a double batch and it worked great. Thanks for this delicious recipe.
@Flying Gypsy, I didn’t have buttermilk either so I did the same, thanks! Such a good recipe, yummy!
Worst shortcake recipe I have tried making. It never set in the oven, even after cooking 30 minutes longer. Basically came out like a pudding!
There had to be an error somewhere in there Katherine. I’m 100% sure this recipe works so something must have been left out, an oven temperature issue, etc. Are you in the US? –Rachel
Can I make the cakes and whipped cream the day before serving? And just slice up the strawberries on the day?
You can make the cakes but not the whipped cream unless you stabilize it with gelatin first. It will fall. I make the whipped cream up to two hours ahead but no sooner. –Rachel
went to make this, and realized i was out of eggs :/ substituted a mashed banana and it turned out AMAZING.
Oh how interesting Erin! I’m glad that worked out for you.
I made these today using regular whole milk. After letting them sit all day till suppertime, I heated them just a little in the microwave to soften them a bit. They are absolutely delicious. We just finished them for dessert, topped with homemade whipped cream. They are just sweet enough and very buttery. Next time I will try them made with buttermilk. So much better than those little round store-bought things we used to have when I was a kid.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Barbara! Definitely try the buttermilk when you can. 🙂 –Rachel