I’m usually terrible at desserts unless it’s something insanely simple, like strawberry shortcake. Luckily, simple doesn’t mean unimpressive. All you need to make these cute, Instagram-worthy little strawberry shortcakes are a few pantry staples and the season’s best strawberries.
So skip the over-sugared candy-bar-stuffed-into-cake-topped-with-ice-cream-and-drizzled-with-chocolate-syrup type of over-the-top desserts that are all the rage right now, grab a pound of fresh strawberries, and make a strawberry shortcake recipe that is truly worth bragging about. Let those gorgeous strawberries do their thing and enjoy them while they’re here!
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What is In Strawberry Shortcake?
Strawberry shortcake is one of the easiest, most simple desserts ever. Strawberry shortcake is just three elements: some sort of sweet biscuit, whipped cream, and strawberries that have been macerated in sugar. It’s really that simple! Simple, but perfect.
Homemade Sweet Biscuits
For the cake part of these shortcakes I actually just took my favorite 5-ingredient freezer biscuits recipe, added a bit more sugar to make them dessert-like, and shaped them into a more rustic round shape. They worked perfectly for the strawberry shortcakes because of their super tender crumb that absorbed the strawberry syrup like a champ.
This recipe did make 8 biscuits and I think the strawberries and cream are only enough for about six, so save the extra two biscuits to top with butter and jam for breakfast. You can thank me later.
Homemade Vanilla Whipped Cream
And since I already had heavy whipping cream to make the biscuits, I decided to go ahead and make my own whipped cream, too. If you’ve never make your own homemade whipped cream, you’ve got to give it a try. It’s surprisingly easy and tastes so much better than what you get in the tub or can. You can do it by hand with a whisk, or use a mixer if you don’t feel like working your triceps. Either way it takes all but three minutes.
Also try my Blueberry Lemon Curd Shortcakes!
Strawberry Shortcake
Servings 8Ingredients
- 1 lb. fresh strawberries ($2.99)
- 2 Tbsp sugar ($0.04)
Sweet Biscuits
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour ($0.26)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 2 Tbsp sugar ($0.04)
- 4 tsp baking powder ($0.16)
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream ($1.85)
Vanilla Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream ($0.92)
- 2 Tbsp sugar ($0.04)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.28)
Instructions
- Rinse the strawberries well, then remove the stems and leaves by scooping them out with a spoon. Slice the strawberries lengthwise into about four slices each. Place the sliced strawberries in a bowl, add 2 Tbsp sugar, stir, and set them aside. The sugar will draw out the juice from the strawberries as they sit and create a delicious strawberry syrup. Stir the strawberries occasionally as they sit.
- Begin to preheat the oven to 400ºF for the biscuits. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder in a bowl until they are very well combined.
- Add the heavy whipping cream to the bowl with the flour and stir until a sticky dough forms and no dry flour remains on the bottom of the bowl.
- Dust your hands with flour, then divide the dough into eight pieces, and roughly shape the pieces into circles, about an inch to an inch and a half thick. Place the shaped biscuits onto the baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until they are lightly golden brown on top.
- While the biscuits are baking, prepare the vanilla whipped cream. Add the heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla to a glass or metal bowl. Whisk vigorously by hand, or use a mixer, until soft peaks form. Be careful not to over whisk the cream, or it can break and separate.
- Once the biscuits have baked, let them sit until they are cool enough to handle. Carefully slice the biscuits in half. Spoon some of the strawberries and strawberry syrup from the bottom of the bowl onto the bottom of each biscuit. Top with a large dollop of whipped cream, then the top half of the biscuit. Finish each stack off with one more dollop of whipped cream, a few strawberry slices, and a drizzle of the strawberry syrup.
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Strawberry Shortcake – Step by Step Photos
Start by rinsing one pound of fresh strawberries. Remove the stem and leaves by scooping them out with a spoon (this wastes less than just slicing off the top of the strawberries). Slice each strawberry into about four slices.
Place the cut strawberries in a bowl and add 2 tablespoons sugar. Stir them together, then set them aside. The sugar will draw the juice out of the strawberries as they sit and create a strawberry syrup. You’ll want to stir the strawberries occasionally as you are preparing the rest of the dish.
Next, start making the biscuits. Begin preheating the oven to 400ºF. In a large bowl, stir together 2.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp sugar, and baking powder. Once the dry ingredients are evenly combined, add 2 cups heavy whipping cream.
Stir until a sticky ball of dough forms and there is no more dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl.
Dust your hands with flour, then divide the dough into eight pieces. Roughly shape the dough into rounds. You want them to be fairly thick. Place them on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.
Bake them in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until they are lightly golden brown. Let them sit for a few minutes, or until they are cool enough to handle.
While the biscuits are baking, make the vanilla whipped cream. In a glass or metal bowl, combine 1 cup heavy whipping cream with 2 Tbsp sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Vigorously whisk by hand or use a mixer to whisk until soft peaks form. Soft peaks are when you pull the whisk out and it forms a peak that slouches over to the side instead of standing straight up. It is possible to over whisk the cream and make it “break” or separate, so don’t go too far.
Carefully slice the biscuits in half (they’re very tender and crumbly, so take care).
See how much juice has come out of the strawberries as they sat? That syrupy juice is key.
Place a layer of strawberry slices and some of that delicious strawberry syrup on the bottom of each biscuit.
Next, add a generous dollop of that vanilla whipped cream…
Add the top half of the biscuit, another dollop of whipped cream, maybe another strawberry slice or two, and one last spoonful of that strawberry syrup. And NOW you can dive in. ;)
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The ease I experienced in making these shortcakes was superior!
However, after baking and trying to cut into these, I found them to be one of the densest, hardest-to-eat shortcakes I’ve ever eaten. They were exceedingly dry. They needed LOTS of macerated strawberry juice to soak in, to render them edible. I don’t know if anyone else had this result, but I know I’ll never bake them again. So sorry.
made these yesterday & they are sooo easy to put together, plus they are delicious & adorable. i made mini shortcakes, so i separated the dough into 16 pieces instead of 8 & baked them for 18 mins. i made 1.5 as much of the whipped cream and strawberries but probably should have doubled them. they were so cute & came together in about an hour. i HIGHLY recommend!
I love this recipe! After reading your comment, I decided to make 16 biscuits (that were still a very generous size.) Mine ended up needing closer to 20-22 minutes, but I started checking at 18 minutes because of your comment (so thank you!) I also doubled the whipped cream and strawberries. Twice as many strawberries were just right for generous portions on each biscuit. Twice as much whipped cream was a bit much, but I’ve never made homemade whipped cream before and WOW. I will not be mad if I end up eating it by the spoonful. So good!
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Is there a problem we can help you solve?
Can you freeze the sweet biscuits?
Yes :)
I made this and it turned out great! But after a day my whipped cream separated in the fridge. There’s liquid stuff underneath and whipped stuff on top. Is there a way to save it? Could I add some corn starch or confectioners sugar to stabilize it next time?
I’ve heard that adding a couple more tablespoons of heavy cream into it can bring it back to life, but I haven’t tried that myself (I always eat it all up too quickly!). As for adding a stabilizer, everything I’ve read says that you’ll want to add something like cream cheese, creme fraiche, or sour cream. It’s the extra fat that helps hold it together. :)
Amazing with fresh strawberries! I made 12 biscuits instead of just 8. They were still somewhat large for a single serving. Can’t wait to eat the leftover biscuits for breakfast tomorrow though. Super easy and really tasty.
Strawberry shortcake was a summer tradition growing up, but my mom always either used store-bought pound cake or used Bisquick for the biscuits. It was always delicious, but these biscuits were so easy and really take it to another level (sorry Mom!). So rich and moist but also light for a hot summer day!
Slight modification: I live in a very dry climate so I did have to add about a Tablespoon of water to the dough to get it to the right consistency.
Very tasty! I made these as drop biscuits instead of taking the trouble to form them and they turned out great. I felt the serving size was a bit too much — next time I would make the biscuits half as large (make 16 instead of 8 as directed).
Can I make this all ahead? Like, if I make it around noon and then serve it after dinner?
I would make the components ahead, but not stack them until just before serving. If you make them too far ahead the bottom biscuits could get soggy.
Hi Beth and team! How do u propose to make this recipe into a full cake, so that it is one large strawberry short cake as a single layer round 9″? What adjustments would need to be made please. Thanks!
That’s a really fun idea! I’m hesitant to give you any specific suggestions that may not work out since we’ve never tested this recipe trying to bake one giant shortcake/biscuit. But don’t let me stop you! The main thing is that you want the center to bake completely before the outside edges overcook. So you’ll want to DECREASE the baking temperature slightly and INCREASE the baking time — and bake in a glass dish rather than a metal one, if possible (since they heat up more slowly and evenly). I’d also suggest using an instant-read kitchen thermometer to determine when the cake is baked — the center should reach an internal temperature somewhere between 205-210*F. If the shortcake starts to take on more color than you’d like, cover it with some aluminum foil to finish baking. Once cooled, I would just top it with the whipped cream and strawberries rather than trying to cut it in half to avoid it crumbling or falling apart as you try to slice it. I hope that helps! ~ Marion :)
Thanks SO much! I’m super happy that these biscuits don’t involve any rising time, rolling them out, and cutting ’em out with a cookie cutter. Fresh Strawberry Shortcakes have always been my all time favorite dessert, so I’m definitely going to try out your easy biscuit recipe. :-)
Can you sub almond flour or any other low carb flower for all purpose flour
Unfortunately I don’t think that would work well. Almond flour has very different properties than AP flour, so you’d probably need to change other aspects of the recipe to compensate, so you wouldn’t be able to simply swap the two.
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