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!
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Strawberry shortcake tips
- For the pictures you see here, bake 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.
- If you would like, you can toss the berries in a bit of honey or sugar and let them sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes. This process is called macerating and will end you with slightly softened, sweetened berries.
- Shortcake is best when eaten the day the cakes are made. Don’t assemble until ready to serve.
- Whip up your own homemade whipped cream by beating together 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 tablespoon powdered sugar or honey. Beat until stiff peaks form.
To make in advance:
- Cakes. Prepare the cakes up to 2 days ahead of time. Allow them to cool before storing them in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Whipped cream. The whipped cream can be made up to 4 hours in advance. Note that it will start to fall the longer it sits.
- Berries. If you are using fresh berries, go ahead and slice them up to 5 hours in advance. If you are making macerated berries (which I highly recommend), it is best not to slice them more than 30 minutes ahead of time.
To freeze: Allow the cakes to cool completely before sealing them in an airtight container and storing them in the freezer for up to 1 month. When you are ready to enjoy, allow the cakes to thaw at room temperature before making the whipped cream, macerating the berries, and assembling the dessert.
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry shortcake is a distant winner over the pre-made round yellow cakes you find in the grocery bakery. Making this cake will change your whole perspective on this spring treat!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 cup sugar see Note 1 for reducing the sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour gluten free flour works
- 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.
Notes
Note 1: Some readers tend to feel that this recipe is too sweet. If you’d like to reduce the sugar, take it down to half or even 3/4 cup if you’d like to. Any less than that will alter the cake’s structure.
Nutrition
Calories: 248kcalCarbohydrates: 35gProtein: 3gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 223mgPotassium: 129mgSugar: 20gVitamin A: 350IUCalcium: 59mgIron: 1.1mg
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Is the flour measurement before or after sifting?
Before sifting on this one Eileen.
These are so yummy and easy to make! After reading some of the reviews about being to sweet, I only put in 3/4 of a cup of sugar. They came out perfect! I used 2 silicone donut pans and a couple remkins and baked for 15 min. This recipe is definitely a keeper! Thank you for sharing!
Great to hear Johnna! I dial back that sugar anytime I can!
I’ll give 5 star cause it was easy and produced a nice cake. Maybe not the one I wanted, but I’ll make again. Only difference I made to orriginal recipe was to separate eggs and beat the whites till stiff and fold in at the last. I also used cake flour. The batter seemed very heavy but when I pulled cakes out of pan I was surprised how light they were.
I had bought a pan from Amazon that produces the mini shortcakes (3″) with the indent in center. So cute! I have a grandchilds 1st birthday party to make these for as well as some angel food cake. Because these were so easy, I’ll probably stick to this recipe. I was looking more for a sponge texture. I can’t describe this. It was very light and moist, but I’m not sure I’d describe as sponge. My final answer…Ill keep this recipe!
Hey Debra–sponge cakes like angel food are fatless–so this recipe would instantly not meet that requirement because of the butter and eggs. I would say this recipe falls more into the pound cake category than anything else. I’m glad you liked it though! –Rachel
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