Easy Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Cream

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.

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!

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.

The Tools You Need to Make Strawberry Shortcake

The only special tools you need to make strawberry shortcakes are mixing bowls, a whisk or electric mixer, a baking sheet, 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.

How to Make the Fluffiest Shortcake

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.

There are a few key components to making fluffy, buttery shortcake:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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. 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 Store and Reheat Shortcakes

These 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 200° F and heat the biscuits on a baking sheet for 3-5 minutes.

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 2-Easy 2-Ingredient 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.

Then, use immediately or store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator to be used within one day.

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.

While the shortcakes cool, place the strawberries aside until assembly. Once you are ready to serve, add the strawberries to the shortcakes. These juicy strawberries can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for one day.

Print

Shop the Post

This page may contain affiliate links. Pasta Ragazza will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you click on one of the above product links and complete a purchase. I only share products I use myself and believe in. Thank you for supporting Pasta Ragazza.