Strawberry Shortcake is light & delicious and the perfect recipe for a hot summer’s day. A sweet crumbly biscuit style pastry is filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.
Whether in a Strawberries & Cream Pie or if they’re being stuffed with cheesecake fresh strawberries are the perfect dessert. Especially when made into this classic strawberry shortcake!
What is Strawberry Shortcake?
Strawberry shortcake can vary based on where you live. Sometimes it’s a small little sponge cake, or in this case a sweet biscuit style pastry, topped with sliced strawberries and whipped cream or ice cream! The perfect ending to a barbecue or a picnic!
To Make Strawberry Shortcake
Simple, luscious, and oh so easy to make, this is the best strawberry shortcake recipe around! You can even prepare this recipe ahead and store in two separate parts until ready to serve.
To Make the Biscuits:
- Combine all biscuit ingredients in a food processor or a hand pastry cutter (per recipe below). Be careful not to overwork the dough or it will not rise properly
- Drop dough in even portions onto the baking sheet and bake until lightly golden brown on top. Remove and allow to cool.
To Make the Strawberry Filling:
- Let strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice combine for at least 30 minutes while the shortcakes cool.
When ready to serve, split shortcakes and spoon strawberry mixture over the top. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. A sprig of mint is a beautiful complement!
How to Store Shortcake
Shortcakes are delicate, so don’t stack them on top of each other. Keep them in a single layer in a freezer bag or airtight container!
How Long Will It Last?
Store the cakes separately from the fillings/toppings and put them together just before serving. Shortcakes will last about a week to 10 days as long as they are kept airtight to prevent them from absorbing odors or moisture. They can also be frozen!
- To Freeze Biscuits: Cool completely and place in a single layer in a zippered bag. Store in the freezer for up to a few months.
- To Refrigerate Biscuits: Place in an airtight container, careful not to stack them, in the fridge until ready to use. These will last for a week and up to 10 days.
The strawberry mixture can be prepared up to 48 hours in advance. The strawberries may soften some and will produce more juice but of course will still taste delicious!
Try making a strawberry shortcake bar and let everyone make their own! Whether they top them with whipped cream or ice cream, these sweet little cakes will have everyone begging for more!
More Strawberry Desserts
- Strawberry Trifle – made with a no-bake cheesecake!
- Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler – melt-in-your-mouth tender!
- Strawberry Pretzel Salad – tasty combo of sweet & salty
- No Bake Strawberry Pie – delicious make-ahead dessert
- Strawberry Rhubarb Pie – perfect balance of sweet & tart!
Easy Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- lemon zest
- pinch of salt
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 4 ounces cold unsalted butter
- coarse sugar
Topping
- 3 cups fresh strawberries sliced
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- lemon zest
- whipped cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F and line a baking pan with parchment paper.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt & lemon zest in a small bowl (or food processor).
- Add cold butter and cut in with a fork or pulse a few times with a food processor (or cut in by hand using a pastry cutter) until you have coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk.
- Drop dough onto the prepared pan. Sprinkle with coarse sugar and lemon zest. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Combine sliced strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and let sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes to release juices.
- Serve biscuits with strawberries and whipped cream.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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My dough was dry too. Just added more buttermilk. Sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Can this recipe be doubled successfully. Thanks
Yes, you can double this recipe easily Sandy. You may find it easier to mix each batch of shortcake separately.
I needed a good dessert tonight for a Church group that would fit into my timeline. Busicuits smell wonderful with the added lemon zest and strawberries are sliced and ready to go. Thank you for helping me to find the perfect dessert for the occasion.
That put a smile on my face Bonnie! You’re welcome. Enjoy!
Thanks Holly for this great and simple recipe! I made this with some personal substitutes like mixed 2% milk and low fat yogurt in place of buttermilk (1:1) and sweetener instead of sugar and it turned out perfect. A great tip, use frozen whip (thawed for a little while in fridge).
So glad you enjoyed it Beth! Thanks for the tip!
Looking forward to trying this recipe! Just wanted to pass on a tip that my grandmother gave me for cutting cold butter into a flour mixture…use a cheese grater! The large hole size of course. I do this every time I want to make a crumbly crust for a pie. The “shredded” butter is the perfect size for a crumbly flour mixture. Works even better if the butter is frozen first! Can’t wait to try this recipe, I love strawberry shortcake! :)
What a great kitchen hack! Thanks so much for sharing Zoe! I hope you love the recipe!
A huge hit with my family. The lemon definitely adds something light and special! Needed to add just a tad more buttermilk; otherwise followed the recipe exactly!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Mary Beth!
I plan to make these tonight for our friends coming over but want to double it to be sure we have enough. If there is extra, I thought about freezing. Have you ever successfully frozen these?
I have just put these biscuits in the oven. The recipe is simple to put together. 1/2 C is indeed sufficient liquid for the dough to form. I got 8 decent sized biscuits from the measurements stated. Can’t wait for them to come out of the oven
I”m so glad Dawna! Happy Easter! :)
Thank you for sharing! My shortcake recipe is similar, never thought of adding lemon zest to the biscuits. I always added it to the berries. Love all your recipes so far!
Thank you Dawn! Enjoy!
Just made this..amazing!! My husband loved it!!
*strawberry shortcake.
I followed the recipe exactly
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe Treshawn! :)
Followed the recipe exactly and 1/2 cup liquid is NOT EVEN CLOSE to making a dough; almost half the flour mixture was still dry. And you do not specify the SIZE of dough portion in step four – you only say to “drop dough onto the prepared pan”. Hack.
This recipe makes 6 biscuits so you’ll want to use ⅙ of the dough for each biscuit. As for the liquid, I have made this recipe several times and my dough turns out perfectly so I’m not sure why this didn’t work for you. You can see the video version of this recipe just above the ingredients list. Hope that helps.
I just made these this morning and 1/2 C milk brought my dough together perfectly. Could you be that you are at a higher altitude?
Thanks for the recipe! The shortcake biscuits were absolutely delicious. I made them with orange zest and loved it. They were very light and soft in the center and slightly toasted on the outside…just perfect! My new go-to shortcake recipe!
I need to make enough for a Bible study group… around 22 folks. Do you have any suggestions?
Cheesecake stuffed strawberries are great for a crowd and not too difficult to prepare. {https://www.spendwithpennies.com/cheesecake-stuffed-strawberries/} or mini cheesecakes are always a hit! {https://www.spendwithpennies.com/mini-cheesecakes/}. I hope this helps!
Looks great! Thinking about making these for Mother’s Day… Is it ok to make shortbread a few days in advance?
I usually make it just before serving although I think 1 day in advance would be just fine. Be sure to seal them well overnight so they don’t dry out. Happy Mother’s Day!
Yumm!! This is so cute and looks delicious! I’m going to have to give it a try
Thank you Sam! I’m sure you’ll love them as much as we do!
It’s our favorite dessert as well! Except, your strawberries look way better than ours ;)
Oh how I love strawberry shortcake! Can’t wait to try this deliciousness!!
This is gorgeous! I’ve never made strawberry shortcake before. Clearly that needs to change.
Thank you Dana! It’s so good made from scratch!
We love fresh strawberries, and of course shortcake; bookmarking this one for a yummy treat!!!
Looks like the perfect Valentine’s dessert! Strawberries and whipped cream are the best together!
Thank you Averie! One of our favorite combos too, especially on Valentine’s day!!
Strawberry shortcake is my all time favorite cake. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Thank you Gail, I wish I could share some with you! :)