The Best Strawberry Shortcake
on Mar 18, 2021, Updated Oct 21, 2022
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Simple, sturdy cake is one of our favorite ways to enjoy Strawberry Shortcake. You just can’t go wrong with a fluffy cake that is layered with strawberries and finished off with whipped cream.
I look forward to strawberry shortcake every year. It means warm weather is here and strawberries are ripe for the picking. This has been one of my favorite desserts since I was a child and I’m excited to share this classic shortcake recipe with you.
Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Ingredients:
- Granulated sugar: this is adding the sweet to your cake, it doesn’t have a lot (it’s not an overly sweet cake) but just enough
- Butter: I love using butter in this cake recipe, it adds flavor and is the fat in the recipe
- Egg: this helps everything to bind together
- Flour: you’ll just need a simple all-purpose flour here, nothing fancy
- Milk: this is the wet ingredient for your cake and what helps everything come together
- Fresh strawberries: it wouldn’t be strawberry shortcake with out these! This recipe is best with fresh in-season strawberries
- Freshly whipped cream: the simple joys! Freshly whipped cream is such a treat and goes so well with the cake and strawberries
How to make Strawberry Shortcake:
- Mix up your cake by adding your butter and sugar to a large bowl and mixing well.
- Add the egg and beat.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix and then beat in the milk. Bake up your cake.
- Prep your strawberries and whipped cream while the cake bakes.
- After it’s cooled a bit serve the cake with strawberries and whipped cream on top.
What happens when you put sugar on a strawberry?
I like to add a tablespoon or two of sugar to my cut strawberries and let them sit while I make the shortcake. This gives the strawberries some time to release their juices and makes a nice syrup to drizzle on top of the shortcakes. So good.
Making the whipped cream?
To make whipped cream, I simply add 1-2 cups of heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla to the bowl of my stand mixer or electric mixer and whip the cream until soft peaks form. SO much better than anything pre-made from the store. Very worth the 5 minutes of prep, if you ask me.
How do I serve strawberry shortcake?
To serve strawberry shortcake I slice the cake into 9 pieces. Remove one piece from the pan and split it down the middle. Top half of the cake with strawberries and whipped cream, add the second half of cake, and top with more whipped cream and strawberries.
Storage Tips:
Store any leftover cake covered at room temperature. Separate from any leftover strawberries or whipped cream.
Strawberry shortcake is such a lovely dessert. It’s light, not too sweet, and easy to prepare. Enjoy a slice (or two) from my kitchen to yours!
More strawberry recipes:
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
- Homemade Strawberry Lemonade
- 4 Ingredient Strawberry Frozen Yogurt (5 minute recipe!)
- Strawberry Pie Recipe
Cake-Like Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1-2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled, sliced, and sweetened to your liking
- 2-4 cups freshly whipped cream, sweetened if you like
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch square baking dish (or line it with parchment).
- In a medium bowl, add the sugar and melted butter and stir to combine well.
- Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and beat with an electric mixture or stand mixer to combine.
- Add the milk and beat again until the mixture is smooth with no lumps. Place the batter in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cake is lightly golden and springs back when lightly touched.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool at least 30 minutes before serving.
- To serve, slice the cake into 9 pieces. Remove one piece from the pan and split it down the middle. Top half of the cake with strawberries and whipped cream, add the second half of cake, and top with more whipped cream and strawberries.
- Serve right away.
- Store any leftover cake covered at room temperature, separate from any leftover strawberries or whipped cream.
Notes
- It’s best to use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer for this cake. I’ve made it a few times where I stirred it all by hand and I was left with little flour chunks in my batter and cake. Incorporating the milk with an electric mixture helped to ensure there were no flour chunks in my cake.
Nutrition
And I’m dying to know, what is your go-to Strawberry Shortcake recipe? Biscuit or Cake?! Do tell! If you don’t have a favorite yet, I’d for sure try this cake recipe.
Hands down the best cake for strawberry shortcake. Absolutely delicious!! I doubled the recipe and put it in a 13×9
So glad you liked it Mary! Thanks for commenting!
The cake came out very thin. Not able to slice it in half to make two. Slices. I followed the recipe exactly. Needed about 5 extra minutes in the oven to make it golden…but nothing else was different. What could have gone wrong?
Did you put it in a 9×9 inch pan or a 9×13 inch pan?
Could your baking powder be old? That’s happened to me.
I’ve been hunting for a a recipe that looks similar to what my mother used to make. I thought this might be it but people keep referring to it as biscuits in some comments and that’s not what I want. Is this more cake like? Also I need to make this for 12. If I double should I put in 9X13 pan? Bigger? Should I just use two 9 inch cake pans? Tx!
You can double this and put it in a 9×13 inch pan, it’ll just need additional cooking time.
Sounds all good but where are the ingredient amounts, I don’t c them
My husband decided yesterday that we needed to take a ride to the local strawberry farm that just opened up for the season. In addition to amazing strawberries, they had pre-packaged sponge cakes so folks could make strawberry shortcake, but he hates those. This recipe was a delightful find and I had all the ingredients (other recipes required heavy cream). This will be a family favorite!
Forgot the stars. Thanks again for a great recipe.
Baking dish (glass) or baking pan (metal)?
Thanks!
Both work great, use what you like or have on hand.
I had fresh strawberries and needed a homemade recipe for the shortcake and so I tried this. It was great. Just the right size for the 2 of us with leftovers.
I will make this again.
Thanks.
Thanks so much Patsy! So glad ya’ll liked it!
I had never made shortcake from scratch before so decided to try this recipe. So glad I did! Delicious, not oversweet and holds up well to the strawberry sauce. This is now my go to recipe.
Thank you
Thank you for this recipe.
Please note a small error says ‘step 1. Mix up you cake. . .
(Your)
Love your page!!
Brenda-Lyn Olson
An excellent, and very easy recipe! Very tasty too! Just what I was looking for. Thank you!