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 scotch the tires on the farm wagon.
And that worries me a little.
I’ve been making my homemade strawberry shortcake for a really long time. To me, it’s easier to whip this up. Takes like, um, 30 minutes. 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 the best homemade 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 homemade strawberry shortcake
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.
Are you ready to dig in? Get started and then leave me a comment and let me know how you loved them!
- 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
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Preheat the oven to 350, and lightly grease an 8x8 pan or 10 spaces on a muffin tin.
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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.
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Add the buttermilk,eggs and vanilla and mix well.
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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.
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Mix with a spoon until no dry clumps of flour remain.
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Bake 25-30 minutes for the 8x8 pan or 15-20 minutes for the muffin tin until the cake springs back and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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Serve slightly warm with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.
Dana says
My 12 year old and I quickly whipped this recipe up for our dinner with guests and we loved it!! I used a tube pan and sprayed it first, and the outside was crunchy and the cake was buttery and delicious! My husband just kept on about how good it was. We can’t wair to make another one!
Rachel Ballard says
Hey Dana, that’s great! I’m so glad it worked well. It’s great when a recipe is easy enough for a child to do it. Thank you for letting me know! come see me again soon. –Rachel
Felicia says
Turned out great!!
Rachel Ballard says
So glad to hear that Felicia! –Rachel
Jamie says
Can I double the recipe by simply doubling the ingredients?
Rachel Ballard says
Hey Jamie, not necessarily. I don’t usually double this version because we don’t need that many shortcakes but as one reader pointed out, she doubled hers and they were a disaster. Not every baking recipe can be doubled as a recipe for pasta or burgers can be. You’re welcome to try it but to be safe, if you want twice as many, make two separate batches and not one big one. –Rachel
Nikki Ziegler says
I followed the recipe but doubled it. And my cakes came out runny and overflowing….
Rachel Ballard says
You know Nikki since I wasn’t there to see what happened by best guess is in the fact that you doubled it. When it comes to baking, not every recipe can be doubled successfully. It seems like you should be able to, but because baking is more science than it is anything else, it doesn’t always work. I know this recipe is delicious and works when followed as written–maybe try it again and just make the regular amount first and see how those turn out. 🙂 –Rachel
Hema says
I have been looking for a good vanilla cake recipe for a long, long time and this one is exceptional. Not having eggs at home that day, I substituted the two eggs for 2 tbspns of flax seed powder mixed with 6 tbspns of water and worried a bit about the trade. But the cake was extremely good, with the aroma of vanilla and butter ruling over a moist, tender crumb. Highly recommend this recipe.
Rachel Ballard says
Hey Hema, Yes flax seed eggs are certainly an option and it sounds like you pulled them off perfectly! I’m so glad you enjoyed it and I hope you’ll come back for even more delicious recipes soon. 🙂 –Rachel
James says
Looking forward to trying this recipe tomorrow. Iam going to add blueberries.
Rachel Ballard says
I hope they were delicious James!