Last Updated on March 30, 2021 by Diane Hoffmaster
Looking for an easy summer dessert recipe? This homemade strawberry shortcake is made from scratch! From homemade shortcake and fresh sliced strawberries to homemade whipped cream, this is the perfect strawberry dessert for your family!
For my family, food usually changes with the seasons. Since I try to choose produce that is grown as locally as possible, the types of fruits and vegetables we eat depends on what can actually be grown here in any given month.
I am lucky to live close to Florida where I can get fresh strawberries starting in late March! Last week I picked up tons of fresh strawberries since we were having company and I wanted to make strawberry shortcake for desert.
I know you can use frozen strawberries for strawberry shortcake but that just seems wrong somehow!
Here is a recipe for homemade strawberry shortcake that is incredibly easy…and YES, you should make your shortcake from scratch but I have been known to use Bisquick biscuits if I am in a huge hurry.
You should NOT skimp on the homemade whipped cream, however. Nothing in a can or plastic tub can compare to the flavor of homemade whipped cream on your strawberry shortcake!
Table of Contents
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
Step One: Prepare the strawberries
Fresh strawberries are the most important part of strawberry shortcake. Wash and slice 2 quarts of strawberries.
Remove stems and place sliced strawberries in a bowl with 1/2 cup sugar. Mix well and let sit at room temperature for a few hours.
I used Driscoll’s strawberries. I love Driscoll’s because they are one of the few that I can actually find organic on occasion!
Step Two: Make Homemade Shortcake
Making shortcake is easy to do from scratch!
- 2 cups flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 TBSP sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup milk
Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (I use my Kitchenaid mixer!). Add milk. Mix just until combined.
Spread in greased 8 inch square baking pan and bake 15 to 18 minutes at 450 degrees or until golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan and divide into 9 pieces.
Step Three: Make the whipped cream
Into a large bowl (again I use my Kitchenaid mixer!) add 2 cups heavy cream. Beat on high until it resembles whipped cream (only a few minutes!
Keep an eye on it or you will end up with butter!) Add 1/4 cup (or so) of powdered sugar as it is whipping to sweeten it. Chill until you need it.
Strawberry shortcake is an incredibly easy summer desert to make and everyone will be impressed if you make your biscuits and whipped cream from scratch.
You don’t have to tell them how easy it really is!
Why is it called shortcake?
Love strawberry shortcake? Make these fruit dessert recipes, too!
- Healthy Halloween Dessert: Candy Corn Fruit Parfait
- Easy Summer Dessert Recipe: Simple Fruit Tart
- Whipped Ricotta Cheese Tart with Honey and Fresh Blackberries
Can Strawberry Shortcake be made in advance?
Yes, you absolutely CAN make homemade strawberry shortcake ahead of time. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
- The shortcake will be just fine if you make it a day ahead. Just cover it with foil.
- Put the strawberries in the refrigerator once they have a fair amount of juice forming and cover the bowl.
- The whipped cream is the tricky party. You may want to leave this step until right before you serve if possible. If not, make sure to beat it well, cover, and refrigerate. I have had homemade whipped cream settle out a bit on me if it is left too ‘thin’ when you refrigerate it.
- Assemble all the bits right before serving.
As the “official dessert of summer” strawberry shortcake is a crowd-pleaser. Skip store-bought and make homemade strawberry shortcake instead.
You’ll be surprised how simple it is to make! Old-fashioned Strawberry Shortcake will be on your summer menu time after time!
Strawberry Shortcake: 3 Steps To a Delicious Summer Desert Recipe
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
Want to make homemade strawberry shortcake from scratch? This strawberry shortcake recipe is incredibly easy and uses no prepared ingredients. It's a simple summer dessert recipe your family will love.
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 TBSP sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup milk
Instructions
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
9Serving Size:
9Amount Per Serving: Calories: 219Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 29mgSodium: 513mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 1gSugar: 4gProtein: 4g
Nutrition information is not always accurate
Yummy! Definitely looks delicious. Where’s mine?
I ate it 🙂
This looks delicious. I guess you ate my share too? 🙂
Sounds great! I may have this for dinner tonight, lol! 🙂
I love this dessert and I think it is such a refreshing one to eat especially for the summer months.
Mmm, tasty!
This looks so great! You are making me hungry.
Our strawberries are growing and almost ready to harvest so can’t wait to try this!
Baking soda or baking powder for the shortcake? Recipe refers to both, and I want to make sure to get it right, as my mouth is salivating over the thought of strawberry shortcake!
sorry for the confusion! It should be baking POWDER. I edited the post!
I made the shortcake exactly as stated. I’m not sure if anybody else has tried, but WOW is this a horrible recipe. I’m curious if the cake in the picture is even made from the same recipe given. It turns into a sticky mess of a dough and tastes HORRIBLE. My husband even tried it to make sure it wasn’t just me and he spit it right out. Looking at the recipe, there is no flavor so maybe that’s it. But texture alone is not appealing. I’m not an inexperienced cook or baker either so I was really surprised. Will not be making again.
I just made it again and had to add a smidge more milk but it came out fine. It is not supposed to have a ton of flavor because you are putting sweet, liquidy strawberries and whipped cream on top. Not sure why it didn’t work for you…
I added 1 egg and a teaspoon of vanilla and it came out great!
glad you enjoyed it!
Agree with Susan. I had to press the dough in the pan and it didn’t rise. I did add a bit of salt and 2T of sugar to try to attempt to flavor it. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t turn out like the picture. Cobbled top, not smooth and didn’t rise.
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. maybe altitude and climate have to do with the consistency of the dough and rising. Last time I used the recipe it worked okay but I will try again and remeasure things.
I agree with several of the others—I expected more of a cornbread-like textured cake (because of the picture) and it was more like dropped biscuit look and texture. It wasn’t a bad taste, but it was a bit too thick to soak up the strawberry juices. My husband liked it, though, so that’s what matters! But I think I’ll look around for another recipe to try for next time.
We made this today and it was FANTASTIC! It was definitely more like biscuit but my husband (British) said this is the way they make it in England. We all loved it.
I am so glad you liked it! This is what I always think of as a ‘classic’ shortcake recipe. It isn’t supposed to be sweet since the berries and whipped cream ARE very sweet.
Omg! Gave this a try tonight. It was absolutely perfect. Not sure why some negative comments. They must be use to the store bought junk.
I did sprinkle a little sugar on top before I put it in the oven. Just to give it a little more texture and color. It holds up well with the strawberries and cream. It was perfect. Exactly what I was hoping for. 😃Will definitely be making this often.
Wished I could share the pics that I took of it.
Thanks for the recipe.
I am so glad you enjoyed it. I think a lot of people expect it to be sweet, however, traditional shortcake is NOT actually cake like… more like a biscuit like this. The sweetness comes from the berries and cream. But, I do mention this in the post itself since it is maybe a little different than people are used to.
Perfect! I started reading the comments to see if anyone had made them as biscuits rather than one big cake, and was surprised to see the negative comments. This is EXACTLY what shortcake is. There used to be a popular biscuit mix that had directions to alter for shortcake, which was only to add a small amount of sugar. I did make these as individual biscuits, BTW, and can’t wait to have them with fresh, local strawberries later today. Tha K you for an easy, delicious recipe!
So glad you found the recipe helpful. And yes, traditionally, shortcake is NOT a sweet recipe at all. But, not everyone is familiar with or cares for the traditional style dessert.
Made this tonight! We enjoyed it better then then the Bisquick strawberry shortcake. I did add some extra milk to the batter. We thought it had plenty of flavor with the vanilla we put in and the butter we added. Will definitely make this again.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. I definitely prefer homemade over the boxed stuff!
I made this for friends and they all liked it, though we noted that it tastes a bit salty. Next time I would add 1/2 tsp. salt instead of 1 full tsp. salt.
Thanks so much for the feedback!
Wonderful recipe! Made it last night and it turned out perfect! I didn’t have any milk on hand I used butter milk to replace the milk. It turned out amazing. 10/10
So glad you enjoyed it! Good to know that buttermilk works, too!