Strawberry Shortcake is the recipe that Maria has been making every summer since before anyone at the table can remember, and she makes it the real way, the way her own grandmother made it, with thick golden buttermilk biscuits that are flaky and crisp at the edges and tender in the center rather than those soft and spongy yellow store-bought rounds that she has never quite forgiven the grocery industry for producing.
She chops the cold butter into the flour with a pastry cutter until the mixture looks like pea-sized crumbles, adds the cold buttermilk and cold egg in one pour, folds the shaggy dough just enough times, cuts the biscuits straight down without twisting, and freezes the whole pan for twenty minutes before baking in a screaming hot oven that produces the most golden and dramatic rise she has ever seen from a shortcake. And then the strawberry topping is extraordinary because she cooks a spoonful of strawberry jam into the sugar-macerated berries for a thick and glossy syrup that soaks into every warm and flaky biscuit layer.
Strawberry Shortcake is the most classic and completely perfect summer dessert made with thick golden flaky buttermilk biscuits that rise dramatically in a hot oven and are split and loaded with the most juicy and glossy strawberry topping and a generous mountain of fresh homemade whipped cream. The real deal, just like grandma made. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful summer dessert recipes and classic baking favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
This Strawberry Shortcake recipe is the summer classic that makes every person at the table stop talking and simply eat with complete and genuine satisfaction from the first warm and flaky bite. The buttermilk biscuit base rather than a sponge cake is what makes this the most completely authentic and deeply satisfying strawberry shortcake experience. The layers of flaky golden biscuit provide the most perfectly sturdy yet yielding platform for the juicy strawberry topping and the mountain of whipped cream, absorbing the strawberry syrup into every tender buttery layer as the assembly rests.
The strawberry topping is the element that makes this recipe so completely extraordinary compared to any version that simply sprinkles sugar over sliced berries. Cooking a small amount of strawberry jam and warming it into the macerated strawberries creates a thick and deeply concentrated strawberry syrup that soaks into the biscuit layers and amplifies the strawberry flavor far beyond what fresh berries alone would produce. Our Fluffy Strawberry Shortcake Puppy Chow makes a beautifully playful and equally strawberry-vibrant companion for a complete and wonderful summer strawberry celebration spread.
Ingredients Needed for This Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
For the Strawberry Topping:
- 6 to 8 cups Fresh Strawberries, sliced
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 tbsp Strawberry Jam (cooked briefly and stirred through)
- 1 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
- ½ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
For the Shortcake Biscuits:
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour, spooned and leveled
- ⅓ cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 2 tbsp Baking Powder
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) Unsalted Butter, COLD
- 1 large Egg, COLD
- ¾ cup Buttermilk, COLD plus 1 to 2 tbsp more if needed
For the Whipped Cream:
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- ⅓ cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
How to Make This Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Begin by preparing the strawberry topping. Slice the fresh strawberries and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with the granulated sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir gently and allow to macerate for at least 20 minutes until the berries have released their juices into the sugar. In a small saucepan, warm the strawberry jam until liquid and stir through the macerated berries for the most thick and glossy strawberry syrup. Set aside.
For the shortcake biscuits, combine the flour, granulated sugar, kosher salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Whisk together. Chop the cold butter into small chunks using a knife and add to the flour mixture. Use a pastry cutter, fork, or butter knife to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is crumbly with pieces of butter approximately the size of a pea. Do not blend the butter smoothly into the flour. The visible butter pieces are what produce the most beautiful flaky layers in the baked biscuits.
In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk the cold egg into the cold buttermilk. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour and use a rubber spatula to stir until a shaggy dough forms. It is acceptable if not all the flour is immediately incorporated. Flour your hands and knead the dough a few times right in the bowl to bring in any loose flour. If the dough is too dry to come together, add one tablespoon of cold buttermilk or ice water.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and roll into a rectangle approximately 9 by 13 inches. Fold the dough in half, then fold in half again, then again. Pat or roll gently into a smooth rectangle approximately 1¼ inches thick. Dip a 2½-inch biscuit cutter in flour and cut straight down through the dough without twisting, cara mia. Twisting the biscuit cutter seals the cut edges and inhibits the rise in the oven. Re-roll the scraps and cut again.
Place the shortcakes snugly together in a buttered cast iron skillet or a greased 9-inch square pan, touching or about half an inch apart. Freeze the whole pan for 20 minutes while preheating the oven to 425°F for at least 20 minutes. Cold dough going into a screaming hot oven is the technique that produces the most dramatically beautiful and tall flaky layers.
Just before baking, brush the tops generously with buttermilk or heavy cream and sprinkle with raw or granulated sugar. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes until the tops are deeply golden brown and the edges feel firm to the touch.
For the whipped cream, beat the cold heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl or stand mixer on high speed for 2 to 5 minutes until soft peaks form that hold their shape when the beaters are lifted.
To assemble, split each warm shortcake in half. Top with strawberries and whipped cream. Place the other half on top and pile on more strawberries and an additional mountain of whipped cream.
How to Serve This Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Assemble and serve while the biscuits are still warm from the oven for the most completely extraordinary strawberry shortcake experience. The warm flaky biscuit immediately begins absorbing the glossy strawberry syrup the moment they are in contact and this absorption into the warm layers is one of the most completely perfect things that happens in all of summer dessert making.
For the most beautiful presentation, pile the whipped cream dramatically high on each assembled shortcake. The mountain of cream alongside the vibrant red strawberry topping against the golden biscuit is genuinely one of the most beautiful summer dessert presentations imaginable. Our Strawberry Shortcake Trifle makes a beautifully layered and equally strawberry-vibrant companion for a complete and lovely summer strawberry celebration spread.
How to Store This Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Store the components separately for the best results. The shortcake biscuits store well wrapped at room temperature for 2 to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week and in the freezer for 2 to 3 months. The strawberry topping stores refrigerated for up to 1 week. The whipped cream is best made fresh but can be refrigerated for a few hours. Assembled shortcakes become soggy quickly and should be eaten immediately.
Tips to Make This Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Use COLD butter throughout this recipe without exception. Cold butter is what produces the flaky layers. When the cold butter pieces hit the hot oven, the water in the butter turns to steam and creates pockets of air between the dough layers that bake into the most beautiful flaky and separated layers. Warm or room-temperature butter melts into the dough before baking and produces a tender but flat and unflaky result.
Freeze the shaped shortcakes in their pan for 20 minutes before baking. Cold dough in a screaming hot oven produces the most dramatic and beautiful rise. The cold restricts the initial spread and forces the dough to rise upward rather than outward for the tallest and most impressive shortcakes.
Helpful Notes for This Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Do not twist the biscuit cutter when cutting the dough. Pressing straight down and lifting straight up leaves the cut edges completely open, allowing the layers to separate and rise individually. A twisted cutter seals the layers together at the cut edge and produces a shorter and less dramatically flaky result.
If buttermilk is not available, make a quick substitute by adding one teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup and filling to the three quarter cup line with cream or half-and-half. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes before using. Whole milk can be used in a pinch but produces less tender biscuits than the buttermilk or cream version.
Variation of This Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
Maria made a version adding the zest of one lemon to the biscuit dough alongside the sugar for a beautifully fragrant lemon strawberry shortcake that was completely extraordinary. Teresa tried topping the assembled shortcakes with a drizzle of dark chocolate sauce for a chocolate-covered strawberry shortcake that was deeply indulgent and completely irresistible.
For a summer patriotic version, add fresh blueberries to the cooked strawberry topping and arrange the red strawberries and blue blueberries over the white whipped cream for the most beautiful red, white, and blue summer celebration presentation. Our Heart Shaped Strawberry Shortbread Cookies make a beautifully charming and equally strawberry-forward companion for a complete and vibrant summer strawberry dessert celebration spread.
FAQs About This Strawberry Shortcake Recipe
What is the difference between shortcake and cake?
Shortcake is made like biscuits rather than like conventional cake. It is made with flour, butter, sugar, and buttermilk without any creaming method or significant leavening and produces a tender, flaky, and crispy-edged result that is completely different in texture and flavor from a regular layer cake. The name shortcake comes from the English baking term short which describes a crisp and crumbly texture achieved through a high fat content.
Can I make the biscuits ahead of time?
Yes. The shaped and unbaked shortcakes can be frozen for up to 2 months. Bake directly from frozen at 450°F for 5 minutes then lower to 400°F for another 15 minutes. They can also be baked ahead, cooled, and stored at room temperature or frozen, then warmed briefly before serving.
Why is homemade whipped cream so much better than canned?
Homemade whipped cream made from full-fat heavy cream contains only cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla with no stabilizers or propellants. It has a pure and clean dairy flavor and a silky texture that canned whipped cream cannot match. The powdered sugar dissolves completely into the cream without any graininess and the vanilla adds warmth and depth that makes it taste genuinely extraordinary compared to any canned version.
Conclusion
This Strawberry Shortcake is the summer dessert that makes every kitchen smell like the most warm and completely beautiful season of the year and makes every person who receives a warm flaky biscuit loaded with glossy strawberries and a mountain of whipped cream feel genuinely and completely celebrated in the most classic and utterly perfect summer way imaginable. We hope it brings the same golden and completely joyful summer table to your kitchen that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa.
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Strawberry Shortcake The Most Classic Flaky Biscuit Summer Dessert You Will Ever Bake
- Total Time: 1 hour including freezing
- Yield: 9 shortcakes 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most classic Strawberry Shortcake made with thick golden flaky buttermilk biscuits using cold butter cut into flour with cold egg and buttermilk folded and cut then frozen before baking at 425°F for the most dramatic rise served with a jammy glossy strawberry topping of fresh strawberries sugar jam lemon and vanilla and a mountain of fresh homemade whipped cream. A completely perfect and authentic summer dessert.
Ingredients
6 to 8 cups Fresh Strawberries sliced
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar for topping
2 tbsp Strawberry Jam
1 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for topping
3 cups All-Purpose Flour spooned and leveled
1/3 cup Granulated Sugar for biscuits
1 tsp Kosher Salt
2 tbsp Baking Powder
3/4 cup Unsalted Butter COLD
1 large Egg COLD
3/4 cup Buttermilk COLD plus more if needed
2 cups Heavy Cream for whipped cream
1/3 cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for whipped cream
Instructions
1. Slice strawberries. Toss with sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Macerate 20 minutes.
2. Warm strawberry jam until liquid. Stir into macerated berries. Set aside.
3. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl.
4. Chop cold butter into chunks. Cut into flour mixture until pea-sized crumbles form.
5. Whisk cold egg into cold buttermilk. Add to flour mixture. Stir until shaggy dough forms.
6. Flour hands and knead a few times in bowl. Add 1 tbsp more buttermilk if too dry.
7. Roll onto floured surface to 9×13 inches. Fold in half then in quarters then again.
8. Pat or roll to 1 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with floured biscuit cutter pressing straight down without twisting.
9. Place in buttered skillet or greased pan touching or 1/2 inch apart.
10. Freeze pan 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 425°F.
11. Brush tops with buttermilk or cream. Sprinkle with sugar.
12. Bake 18 to 22 minutes until deeply golden brown.
13. Beat heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla on high 2 to 5 minutes until peaks form.
14. Split warm biscuits. Top with strawberries and whipped cream. Add biscuit top and more of each.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 shortcake with topping and cream
- Calories: 604
- Sugar: 20g
- Sodium: 140mg
- Fat: 37g
- Saturated Fat: 23g
- Unsaturated Fat: 12g
- Trans Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 64g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 7g
- Cholesterol: 136mg
Keywords: strawberry shortcake, classic strawberry shortcake with biscuits, homemade strawberry shortcake recipe flaky, best strawberry shortcake from scratch
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