Strawberry Shortcake Recipe with Strawberry Whipped Cream (2024)

What goes better with fresh strawberries than more strawberries? You can dress up this easy strawberry shortcake recipe by slicing and layering like I did in the photos, or serve it family style and let everyone help themselves.

We have several You Pick strawberry farms in our area, so we always make time to go picking fresh local berries. Locally grown berries from a farm or farmers market are best for any strawberry recipe. Find fresh berries near you at LocalHarvest.

This year we were talking to one of the farm workers, who has picked berries around the country. He said they always pick the berries green for shipping to supermarkets – never red. That's why supermarket berries lack flavor.

If you can't get fresh berries, use frozen berries. You'll want to keep them on the side until serving time, but frozen berries are still likely to be riper than store berries.

How to Make Strawberry Shortcake

This recipe is a biscuit style shortcake. You can bake it in two eight inch pans, spread it into two rounds on a baking sheet, or bake it as drop biscuits.

Simply stir together your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt), then cut in your lard or shortening.

Stir in milk until just blended, and then spread the dough in two greased 8 inch layer pans and bake.

You can't have strawberry shortcake without strawberries. For this recipe, I decorate with cut strawberries, and then serve with additional chopped or mashed berries. You'll need around 1 to 2 quarts of berries, depending on your preferred berry to cake ratio.

To make the strawberry topping, chop berries together using a potato masher or pastry blender. Add sweetener, and let rest for around 20 minutes.

This rest time will help the sugar to draw liquid out of the berries for your berry sauce. Thawed berries will be very juicy on their own.

For sweetened whip cream, whip the cream until soft peaks form, add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar or vanilla liquid stevia and whip until moderately firm.For strawberry whipped cream, I use freeze dried strawberry powder, cream, and powdered sugar.

Serve by cutting the cake into wedges and slicing in half horizontally (if desired), topping each piece with berries and a dollop of whipped cream. Alternatively, if feeding a crowd, you can berry and cream the entire cake or cakes and cut slices – your choice.

I've also had good results substituting Namaste Gluten Free Flour Blend to make a gluten free shortcake.

Decorating Tips

I used two pastry tubes with star tips to apply the sweetened whipped cream and strawberry whipped cream to the cake layers. To make it easier to fill the decorating tube, I prop it up in a large glass.

I have the 5 tip Classic Simple Good decorating set, which comes with pastry bags and tips. I used the closed star and open star tips to decorate the cake, alternating colors around the outside edge, and filling the center with strawberry whipped cream and sliced berries.

If you don't have a decorating bag and tips, you can use ziplock bags and cut off a corner, or apply the whipped cream with a spoon.

I find this decorating set to be quite handy, as the extra large tips make it quick and easy to apply whipped cream or frosting. You can also use the tips to pipe cream puff dough (and fill the finished puffs) and other pastries, or make drop dumplings.

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Working with Fresh Strawberries for you Strawberry Shortcake

Here are some tips to preserve the flavor and texture of your fresh strawberries.

DO:

• Use berries as quickly as possible after picking. They'll keep for a day or two on the counter, and a little bit longer in the refrigerator.
• Wait to wash berries until just before use.
• Gently rinse berries in a strainer with cool water.
• Pat berries dry with a towel before using them on your strawberry shortcake. Remove the caps only after you've dried the berries, as they protect the inside of the berry.

DON'T:

• Stuff berries in the produce bin of your refrigerator. Moisture is the enemy of fresh strawberries, and they can mold very quickly.
• Keep damaged berries next to good berries. Once one berry in a pile starts to go, the spoilage spreads.
• Store your berries in a tightly sealed container. Uncut berries with caps on will keep longer in an open bin with good air circulation.

Get more storage tips, plus 12 ways to preserve strawberries here.

Where Can I Get Freeze Dried Strawberries?

More grocery stores are starting to carry freeze dried fruit for snacking, so you might be able to find them in the produce department. Otherwise, the Internet is your best bet; I ordered mine as freeze dried strawberry powder from nuts.com, but freeze dried whole berries can also be crushed down.

I think you might be able to substitute 1/4 cup strawberry jam, pureed, for the strawberry powder, but I ran out of whipped cream so I couldn't test to see how well it holds up. If you try it, could you please let me know how well it works.

More Yummy Desserts

Want more desserts other than strawberry shortcake? We have a ton of tasty recipes on the site, all listed by category on the Recipe and Kitchen Tips index page. They include:

No Bake Cheesecake

Old Fashioned Rhubarb Pudding Cake

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache (Gluten Free)

Originally published in 2012, last updated in 2021.