Easy Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Cream is an easy, delicious way to enjoy juicy red strawberries during the spring and summer months. This picture-perfect recipe takes less than an hour to make with prep, cleanup is minimal, and the final product is mouthwatering! This is a great recipe for those who are just learning to bake and want to whip up something homemade.
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An Ode to Strawberry Season
Strawberry Shortcake is one of my summertime favorite desserts. While I'm normally drawn to chocolatey, coffee-based sweets, there's something special about biting into fresh strawberries, cream, and biscuits in the warm summer heat. My dad used to make us angel food cake, strawberries, and vanilla ice cream in the summer when we were kids, and I don't think I've ever gotten a car wash in LA without buying a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar. Strawberry shortcake comes in all different shapes and sizes, and it's always so delicious!
Alec and I pick strawberries at Swanton Berry Farm, a small strawberry farm just 45 minutes south of San Francisco. It is such a fun way to kick off the summer months, especially since San Francisco doesn't have a traditional hot summer. While we don't always have the luxury of picking our own fresh strawberries, grocery stores are often well-stocked on fresh berries starting in spring. Easy Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Cream is a deliciously sweet ode to the strawberry season!
Ingredients
- Strawberries - In order to get the freshest and tastiest strawberries, we try to buy our strawberries from the farmers market or Swanton berry farm when we have time. If you don't have a farmers market nearby, make sure you pick the juiciest and ripest strawberries you can find.
- Sugar - Adds sweetness to the shortcakes, cream, and strawberries.
- Coarse sugar such as turbinado - Used as a final sweet touch.
- All purpose flour - The foundation for the strawberry shortcakes.
- Baking powder - Helps make the dough soft and tender.
- Baking soda - Helps the biscuit dough spread
- Kosher salt - Balances the sweetness from the sugar.
- Butter - Adds the signature a buttery flavor. Use European or American butter. European has a higher fat content resulting in a crisper, more buttery shortcake. American butter has higher water content, which will make the shortcakes less buttery but still delicious!
- Heavy whipping cream - Cold heavy whipping cream is the base of homemade whipped cream It contains at least 30% fat content, which allows it to form stiff peaks when whipped. Use organic heavy whipping cream for the best quality product.
How to Make Easy Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Cream
Easy Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Cream is made up of mostly staple ingredients you probably already have at home. There's hardly any equipment involved and the most important part is your hands. It's a fool-proof dessert that yields 6 servings. Sometimes I'll make extra shortcake just to have for breakfast the next couple of days too.
How to Make the Shortcake Biscuits
Shortcake is arguably one of the most important components of Easy Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Cream. It is the vehicle for every bite you take, so it needs to be sturdy enough to not get soggy and fluffy enough to enjoy for an entire serving.
- Chilled Butter - Cold butter doesn't fully incorporate into the flour. The cold butter creates steamy air pockets in the dough, making the dough fluffy and airy.
- Careful Mixing - When incorporating the heavy whipping cream in the dough, you want to make sure you do not over mix the ingredients. Over mixing the dough can cause the butter to melt and the biscuits to rise and flatten while baking.
- Cut and Stack - One way to achieve lots of layers in your shortcake is by cutting and stacking the dough. First, form the dough into a rectangle, then cut the dough into four equal quarters with a knife or use a 4 inch biscuit cutter to make the biscuits into circles. Then, take the four mini rectangles, stack them, and flatten them back into a rectangle. Lastly, cut them into six equal rectangles to be baked.
These three components will result in perfectly airy, layered shortcakes every time.
How to Make Homemade Whipped Cream
Homemade whipped cream is one of those things where once you make it from scratch, you'll never buy store-bought again. I only use two ingredients and my electric mixer to make a batch of whipped cream in just a few minutes.
My recipe for Easy Homemade Whipped Cream is simple to make and requires very little cleanup. To make two cups of whipped cream, all you'll need is a cup of organic heavy whipping cream and one tablespoon of granulated sugar. First, chill the bowl and whisk in the freezer for 10 minutes so the vessel is cold for the cream. Then, place the ingredients in the bowl and whisk by hand or with an electric mixer until the cream forms stiff peaks. Be careful to not over mix the cream or it will get lumpy.
How to Make Sweet Macerated Strawberries
You can't have strawberry shortcake without sweet and juicy strawberries! This recipe calls for 3 cups of ripened strawberries cut into slices and ⅓ cup of sugar. First, place a cup of the sliced strawberries in a mixing bowl and gently mash them with a fork to release juices. Then, add in the rest of the sliced strawberries and sugar and mix until well-incorporated.
Assemble the shortcakes
While the shortcakes cool, place the strawberries aside until assembly. Once you are ready to serve, add the strawberries to the shortcakes and enjoy!
Substitutions
- Gluten free - use gluten free all purpose flour to make these shortcakes gluten free. We recommend this gluten free flour for the best results.
Variations
- Store bought whipped cream - You can use store bought whipped cream instead of homemade whipped cream if you don't have time to make it.
- Japanese Strawberry Shortcake cake - Japanese strawberry shortcake is made with sponge cake instead of biscuits and as a result is much lighter while still flavorful.
- Ice Cream - Add vanilla bean ice cream if you want to make the shortcakes extra indulgent and rich.
Storage
The shortcakes can be stored in an air-tight container or a cloche for up to 3 days. To warm them up, heat the oven to 250° F and heat the biscuits on a baking sheet for 3-5 minutes.
Equipment
This strawberry shortcake recipe require kitchen essentials. You will need mixing bowls, a whisk or electric mixer, a baking sheet, a knife, a cutting board and a cooling rack. These are items you probably already have on hand since they're used in so many recipes. If you don't have them and want to build your kitchen basics, head to my Kitchen Essentials Shop where you can find all of my kitchen product recommendations.
Did You Like This Recipe?
Did you love these Strawberry Shortcakes with Homemade Cream? If so, rate the recipe and tell me more in the comments below! For more sweets and cake recipes, check out:
- Carrot Cake with Chai Spiced Frosting
- Matcha Christmas Cookies
- Fuyu Persimmon Galette
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Walnuts
- White Peach and Cherry Galette
Easy Strawberry Shortcake with Fresh Cream
Ingredients
- 3 cups ripe strawberries hulled and sliced
- ⅓ cup sugar plus 3 tbsp sugar, separated
- 1 tbsp coarse sugar such as turbinado
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ cup butter 1 stick, cubed
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream separated
Instructions
Shortcakes
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- In a large mixing bowl, place the flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk the dry ingredients until incorporated.
- Add the cubed butter to the dry ingredients. Toss the butter until coated with flour. Then, use your hands to pinch the butter until it forms pea-sized bits of floury butter. Do this part quickly so the butter stays cold.
- Pour 1 cup of the heavy whipping cream into the flour mixture. Using a rubber baking spatula, gently fold in the cream just until the cream is incorporated. Then, use your hands to knead the dough a couple of times to fully incorporate the cream and flour. Be careful to not over mix.
- Place the dough onto a floured surface and use your hands to gently pat the dough into a 5x6-inch rectangle. Cut the dough in half lengthwise, then cut those rectangles in half crosswise, forming 4 equal rectangles.
- Then, stack the four rectangles to form a tall stack of dough. Press down on the stack to form back into a rectangle. Press the dough into a 1-inch thick 7x5-inch rectangle.
- Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, then cut each rectangle into 3 squares. Place the squares on the baking sheet and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar. Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
- Once baked, transfer the shortcakes onto a cooling rack to cool.
Strawberries
- While the shortcakes cool, place 1 cup of strawberries in a mixing bowl. Gently mash the berries with a fork to release the natural juices. Add the remaining 2 cups of strawberries and ⅓ cup of sugar. Mix until the berries are well-coated in sugar and juice. Set aside until assembly.
Easy 2-Ingredient Whipped Cream
- Place 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 cup of heavy whipping cream in a chilled bowl. Whisk by hand or use an electric mixer until the cream forms stiff peaks. Do not over mix the cream or will become lumpy. Set aside until assembly. See Easy 2-Ingredient Whipped Cream for more detail.
Assembly
- Allow the biscuits to cool for 15-20 minutes. Then, gently split the biscuits in half by hand. Place the bottoms onto serving plates. Divide the whipped cream, strawberries, and juices onto each of the bottom halves. Place the shortcake tops on each of the plated bottoms. Enjoy immediately.
Notes
Food safety
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
These were some of the flakiest and soft biscuits I have ever had! So happy it's peak berry season now so I can make this all summer long!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Berry season is simply the best.