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Classic Strawberry Shortcake

Here’s how to make the best strawberry shortcake: the classic way! Tender, biscuit-like shortcakes meet sweet berries and fluffy homemade whipped cream.

Strawberry shortcake marks the start of summer around here. And why make it with store-bought mix if it’s 100% more delicious homemade? Here’s our classic strawberry shortcake recipe. It’s got tender, biscuit-like shortcakes, juicy sweet berries, and fluffy, homemade whipped cream. It’s so ridiculously good, it’s perfect for special occasions of all kinds: cookouts, patio parties, birthdays, and anytime you come across a load of ripe, beautiful berries. Here’s how to make it!

How to make strawberry shortcake: 3 steps!

There are three main skills you’ll learn in making strawberry shortcake, which we’ll cover below:

Macerating the strawberries. Macerate means to let them sit with sugar so they break down.
Making the shortcakes. You’ll make lemon-scented, biscuit-like cakes (not spongy or fluffy).
Making homemade whipped cream. A basic skill for any home cook to master!

Baking the shortcakes: some tips

The type of shortcake in strawberry shortcake varies based on the recipe. Some you’ll find are more spongy, some light and airy. This version is flaky and biscuity: it’s a sweet version of our Homemade Biscuits. But instead of rolling and folding them several times to create layers, we’ve simplified the process. These are like a combination of a layered biscuit and a drop biscuit. Here are a few tips for making these shortcakes:

Use buttermilk. Buttermilk brings the right tangy flavor and fluffy texture. It’s worth springing for the real stuff.
Don’t overmix. Be careful not to overmix the batter. If it’s too dry, you can add a little more buttermilk: but not too much!
Use a biscuit cutter. A 3-inch biscuit cutter gets just the right shape.
Place the biscuits directly next to each other. Placing them next to each other on the baking sheet helps them rise in the oven.
Sprinkle with sugar. Sprinkle the top with sugar to get a crunchy texture!

Can you make strawberry shortcakes in advance? These are best the day of, so they have a crispy on the outside and tender on the inside texture.

What if you don’t have a biscuit cutter?

If you don’t have a biscuit cutter for the strawberry shortcakes, here are a few ideas on how to cut the biscuits:

Find a circular cookie cutter that’s approximately 3 inches wide.
Use a knife to draw a circle 3 inches wide. (You could even cut out a 3-inch wide circle to trace as a guide.)

How to macerate strawberries

What does macerate mean? To macerate is to soften food by sitting in a liquid. With fruit and berries, you can simply mix them with sugar and let them sit. As they sit, the sugar extracts the juices from the berries, making a natural sauce with the sugar. I remember my mother doing this in the summer when I was growing up.

All you have to do is slice the berries and mix them with sugar: you don’t even have to measure quantities (or use the quantities in the recipe below). Here are a few notes about macerating the strawberries for strawberry shortcake:

You can use sugar or maple syrup. We’ve used sugar here, but if you prefer naturally sweet sugars with the berries maple syrup works too.
Adding acid makes them pop! Lemon juice makes the flavor even brighter: it’s almost like adding a pinch of salt. You can also use balsamic vinegar (strawberries and balsamic are a natural pair).
Make them as you bake the cakes, or 24 hours in advance. You can let the berries sit at room temperature while you bake the cakes. Or macerate them in advance in the refrigerator. Just make sure to bring them to room temp before serving.

Homemade whipped cream: it’s a must!

You could use store-bought whipped cream for strawberry shortcake…but if you’ve come this far, why not make homemade? Homemade whipped cream is fluffier, richer and creamier than anything you can get at the store. The recipe we’ve been making for years is this Homemade Whipped Cream. Go to that post for all our tips and tricks, but here are a fe w notes:

Do it with a whisk or a stand mixer. You can use a simple whisk and a bowl: get your muscles ready! It’s fun to watch cream thicken and become fluffy with just a whisk. If you have a stand mixer, you can use that for less of a workout!
Infuse it for a twist. Try Infused Alcoholic Whipped Cream to infuse your cream with bourbon or rum.
Can you make homemade whipped cream in advance? Yes. While it’s best right when it’s made, you can also make it a few hours in advance and refrigerate.

Ripe berries are a must for strawberry shortcake!

As always, the quality of the ingredients is key. For a summer symphony like strawberry shortcake, you absolutely must have the ripest berries you can find. Grab local strawberries if you can: their flavor is sweet and pure summer. The first time I had a bite of a local strawberry, my mind was blown. The nuance of the flavor is simply magical.

This strawberry shortcake recipe is…

Vegetarian.

Classic Strawberry Shortcake

(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

5 from 5 reviews

Author: Sonja Overhiser
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 8
Diet: Vegetarian

Print Recipe

Description

Here’s how to make the best strawberry shortcake: the classic way! Tender, biscuit-like shortcakes meet sweet berries and fluffy homemade whipped cream.

Ingredients

For the strawberries

1 pound ripe strawberries
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

For the shortcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest (or 1 tablespoon orange zest*)
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cold buttermilk, plus more for brushing

For serving

Homemade Whipped Cream

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Slice strawberries. Zest and juice the lemon, reserving the zest for the shortcakes. Mix the berries with the 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice. Allow to stand at room temperature for 1 hour or more, which lets them macerate and release their juices. (Or, do up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerate: bring to room temperature before serving.)
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1 teaspoon lemon zest. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch pieces and use a pastry cutter it into the flour mixture.
Add the 3/4 cup buttermilk to the flour and stir until all the buttermilk has just absorbed. Do not overstir. Use your hands to form the dough into a rough ball. Add the 1 tablespoon more buttermilk to help the dough come together.
Turn onto a lightly floured counter. Gently pat the dough out into a rectangle about 8” x 10” and about 3/4” thick (you may need to wash, dry and flour your hands to help pat it out).
Use a 3” biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits, pushing straight down (without turning the cutter) and transferring to a parchment lined baking sheet (you can also use a cookie cutter or use a knife to cut out a 3-inch circle). Ensure the edges of each biscuit are touching on the baking sheet to improve rise. You should get 6 biscuits out of the first cutting, then re-roll the dough scraps for final 2 biscuits.
Brush tops with buttermilk. Sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake 15 to 17 minutes until lightly golden brown on top. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Store leftovers frozen for up to 3 months or refrigerated for a few days (reheat in a 350 degree oven until warm).
Make the Homemade Whipped Cream (or try Infused Whipped Cream for a treat).
To serve, cut the shortcakes in half. Top with strawberries and whipped cream, then the top of the shortcake and more whipped cream and strawberries.

Notes

*Our favorite twist is to use orange zest for the biscuits (in that case you can use orange juice for the strawberries).

Category: Dessert
Method: Baked
Cuisine: American

Keywords: Strawberry shortcake

More strawberry recipes

Who doesn’t love the sweet flavor of strawberry? Here are a few more top notch strawberry recipes to add to your collection:

Easy Strawberry Sauce Perfect for topping waffles, cheesecake, and more! You could even use it for this strawberry shortcake.
Perfect Strawberry Smoothie This one uses frozen strawberries to make an icy puree that’s full of flavor.
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp A knockout strawberry dessert! It pairs berries with tart rhubarb.
Simplest Strawberry Tart This classy tart features mascarpone and fresh berries.

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Simple Carrot Salad

This carrot salad is fresh and healthy, with a tangy vinaigrette dressing! It’s easy to make, ideal for cookouts, potlucks, as a side dish, or for lunch.

Carrot salad might sound humble, but it’s anything but. Serve this carrot salad to your friends and family, and they’ll be singing your praises! We know because after we made this at our house, it disappeared within minutes. It’s simple and refreshing, featuring strings of carrots doused in a a tangy Mediterranean-style vinaigrette. Just a handful of ingredients and you have a healthy side dish you won’t want to stop eating. Here’s how to make it!

Ingredients for carrot salad

This carrot salad is based on the French carrot salad, or salade de carottes râpées meaning “salad of grated carrots.” Per David Lebovitz, it’s sold all over the country at bistros, cafes and supermarkets. And we can see why! The light tangy dressing, crunchy carrots and savory sweet flavor all meld together into a dreamy concoction. The flavors are a little like what keeps us going back to the bowl of broccoli slaw or coleslaw.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this simple carrot salad:

Carrots: large or small
Green onions
Parsley
White wine vinegar
Dijon mustard
Sugar or maple syrup: use maple if you like no refined sugar recipes
Olive oil & salt

How to julienne carrots: 3 ways!

The only hard part of this carrot salad, if there is one, is how to julienne the carrots. You can grate the carrots if you’d like, but we love the look of a good julienne. Julienne cut is cutting a vegetable into long thin matchsticks. The slices have squared off edges. You can julienne carrots with a knife if you’d like. But for this salad, there are a few faster ways:

Handheld peeler: Use a handheld julienne peeler. Here’s the one we use.
Food processor: Use the grating blade on a food processor. Feed in the carrots through the hole in the top of the lid.
Grater: Here’s a shortcut: use the large holes on a box grater! Grated carrots are in flatter pieces than julienne, but they’ll work in a pinch.

Use the Dijon mustard dressing on any salad!

The dressing for this salad is simple and tangy: made with Djion mustard, vinegar and olive oil. It’s actually a half recipe of our famous Dijon mustard dressing. It’s a vinaigrette that works on just about anything! Here are some salads it would be perfect on:

Asparagus Salad with Feta This salad uses the Dijon dressing to amp up sauteed asparagus, feta, greens and crunchy veggies.
Perfect Italian Salad This classic Italian American salad works well with Djion dressing, too!
Spinach Apple Salad Spinach salads are fantastic with this dressing.

Storage info

Because this type of French carrot salad is designed to sit in a cafe or grocery store counter, it stands up to time well. You can store it refrigerated for up to 3 days, and the flavor still stays fresh and tangy. If it loses a little flavor after refrigerating, you can always mix with a little drizzle of white wine vinegar, olive oil and a pinch of salad.

Ways to serve carrot salad

This carrot salad is perfect for lots of occasions: potlucks, cookouts, to accompany a dinner main dish, or even for lunches! Here are a few ways to serve it:

With a main course: Serve with grilled salmon, grilled shrimp, veggie burger or portobello burger.
Plate of salads: Try with creamy potato salad, Italian pasta salad, Greek orzo salad, French lentil salad, cucumber salad, or watermelon salad.
For lunch: Add easy chickpea salad, tofu scramble, seasoned cannellini beans, or chickpea salad sandwich.

This simple carrot salad is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.