The best summer dessert that exists: a fluffy, buttermilk biscuit topped with sweetened whipped cream and marinated fresh strawberries. This is a scaled down version of a Strawberry Shortcake recipe that makes just 4 biscuits.
You'll love this Easy Shortcake Recipe
This dessert requires a lot of steps but stay with me--I promise the reward of a slightly sweet biscuit topped with cream and juicystrawberries is more than worth it. The biscuits can be made ahead of time, and the strawberries can be left to macerate for several hours.
What is Strawberry Shortcake?
Strawberry shortcake is the best way to eat strawberries! It features a savory biscuit topped with sweetened, marinated fresh strawberries and sweet whipped cream on top.
If you've never had real strawberry shortcake before, you might be surprised to learn that the biscuits aren't sweet. The beauty of this dessert is the fluffy, soft biscuit soaked in sweet cream and sweet berries. The round hockey-puck looking things you sometimes see at the grocery store labeled for strawberry shortcake are made of cake. Those are soft, floppy and overly sweet. Don't buy them, trust me.
Real strawberry shortcake is made with biscuits. The contrast of craggy, almost salty biscuit and sweet cream and berries is superior.
Strawberry Shortcake Ingredients
- Flour. All-purpose, regular white flour. Do not use self-raising flour, because we’re adding leaveners to it.
- Salt. Just a ½ teaspoon of fine sea salt.
- Baking Soda. One and a quarter teaspoons of baking soda. Make sure it’s fresh and not expired. If you put a small amount in a glass with vinegar, it should be fizzy!
- Baking Powder. Aluminum-free baking powder, please.
- Butter. Half a stick of unsalted butter that is still cold from the fridge.
- Buttermilk. We’ll start with a half-cup of low-fat buttermilk, but we might add an extra teaspoon or two, depending on how dry the mixture is in the bowl. I really recommend store-bought buttermilk, not making your own or using the powder.
Variations on this recipe for Strawberry Shortcake:
- Berries - You can use any other type of berry, or a mix of berries here.
- Cream - If you want to use coconut cream instead of whipped cream, that is delicious too!
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake Filling
The filling in this strawberry shortcake recipe is where things get really good. Freshly whipped cream and strawberries marinated in sugar with a touch of lemon juice in vanilla is absolutely addicting. This is not the time for whipped cream from a can or a tub--use the real deal here!
There's something amazing about the combination of lemon and vanilla with a sweet, seasonal strawberry. I hope you know that seasonal strawberries are the only things to use--this recipe just won't taste as good in the winter with less sweet strawberries! If you're craving your strawberry shortcake recipe badly during the winter, I would use frozen strawberries. It's true that frozen strawberries are usually frozen at peak ripeness, and taste better than hard strawberries that have been picked too early and shipped from too far away.
How to make Strawberry Shortcake
How to make Shortcake Biscuits
Preheat the oven to 450 (yes, that’s very hot), and have ready a sheet pan that you lined with parchment paper. Whisk toget
Next, add the diced cold butter to the bowl, and work it into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or your hands.
Keep working the butter into the flour mixture until it is the size of rice grains.
Pour in the buttermilk. Knead this mixture together, and try to resist the urge to add extra buttermilk if the mixture looks dry. Instead, knead it and fold the dough together, without over-mixing, however.
Knead the dough a few times to bring it together.
Pour the dough onto a floured counter, and pat the dough out until it’s 1-inch thick all around.
Use a 3-inch cookie cutter to cut out 4 circles. Do not twist the cutter when you remove it from the dough. Simply press down and lift up directly so that you don’t ‘seal’ the edges of the dough with the cutter. Gather the scraps very gently and cut out 1 or 2 more circles.
Arrange the biscuits on the pan, evenly spaced. Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until lightly golden on top.
If you want, brush with extra melted butter as they come out of the oven.
Next, make the strawberry filling: combine the chopped strawberries with the sugar and lemon
juice. Stir together and set aside.
In a clean bowl, add the cold whipping cream, and beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks
form. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat until fluffy.
To serve, slice each biscuits in half, add a scoop of whipped cream and top with a scoop of the strawberries.
Easy Strawberry Shortcake Recipe Tips:
- Resist the urge to add extra buttermilk if the mixture seems dry. Too much liquid makes a flat biscuit.
- Knead gently, not too much.
- Use the cookie cutter gently: direct down and directly up. Do not twist it in the dough.
- Use the freshest, ripest strawberries you can find.
- Keep the whipping cream very cold before whipping so that it can become the fluffiest.
Our Favorite way to enjoy Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
This is a bit controversial, but I like my biscuits stale for strawberry shortcake! So, I make them the day before, and let them rest on the counter (covered) overnight. Then, I marinate the strawberries at least 8 hours before serving. The lemon juice and sugar makes them perfectly sweet and sour here. I whip the cream ahead of time, too, and then store it in the fridge so that it’s extra cold. Then, assembly is easy: slice the biscuit in half, top with strawberries, whipped cream, and the other half of the biscuit.
I hope you love this strawberry shortcake recipe! Feel free to scale it up to serve more people!
Easy Strawberry Shortcake
Easy strawberry shortcake recipe for 4 little cakes.
Ingredients
For the biscuits:
- 1 ⅓ cup (160 grams) flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled
- ½ cup buttermilk (plus extra if needed)
For the strawberries:
- 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream (very cold)
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 and line a quarter sheet baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
- Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the flour mixture, cutting it into the flour mixture
with a pastry cutter or two knives. When all of the pieces of fat are the size of rice and are
coated in flour, pour in the buttermilk. Knead it slightly, and add additional buttermilk 1
tablespoon at a time if the biscuit dough seems dry or crumbly. Do not add too much buttermilk,
or the biscuits will bake up too flat. - Tip the dough out onto a floured counter, and knead it 3 or 4 times to bring it together. Pat it out to 1" thick. Dip your 3" biscuit or cookie cutter in flour and cut out 3 biscuits. Gather up
the scraps and gently pat them out in order to cut out one more biscuit. If your cutter is smaller, you might get a different number of biscuits. - Arrange the biscuits on the pan, evenly spaced. Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until lightly golden on
top. If you want, brush with extra melted butter as they come out of the oven. Set aside. - Next, make the strawberry filling: combine the chopped strawberries with the sugar, salt and lemon
juice. Stir together and set aside. - In a clean bowl, add the cold whipping cream, and beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks
form. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat until fluffy. - To serve, slice each biscuit in half, add a scoop of whipped cream and top with a scoop of the
strawberries.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 251Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 65mgSodium: 454mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 1gSugar: 9gProtein: 2g
Esther says
One of my favorite of all time desserts!
Jessica @ How Sweet says
I have never made strawberry shortcake, yet its one of my favorites. Beautiful!
Audrey Ellen @ My Scene and Herd says
I love the shortcake idea, so easy to whip up for a dessert that can go with any fruit in the summer. Cant wait to try this!
Cindy says
I made these last night - they were so good! Loved that they were a little sweeter and loved the sugar crust on top. Perfect!
Linda says
Best shortcake biscuits ever. Super light and airy, delicious! Thank you :)