Strawberry Shortcake
This buttery, flakey short cake pairs perfectly with fresh strawberries and a dollop of homemade whipped cream - it’s super easy to pull together and a great option if you need a dessert in a pinch.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: Six shortcakes
Ingredients
For the cake
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus a little extra to flour your counter surface
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) very cold, unsalted butter (I like to use Kerrygold!)
1 cup buttermilk, very cold
Optional: 3 tablespoons whole milk for the pre-bake wash
For the topping
3 cups fresh strawberries; washed, dried, hulled and quartered
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 400 °F and prep a 9×13 baking dish by lining it with parchment paper.
Cut your butter into small cubes, put them in a bowl and into the freezer while you prep the dry ingredients. I typically place my buttermilk into the freezer for a few minutes as well to ensure it’s very cold.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Once the butter has had a chance to chill, about 10 minutes, cut the cubes into the flour mixture with a pasty cutter or a fork. You could also use your hands but would need to work quickly so the mixture doesn’t get too warm. Once the butter is incorporated into the flour mixture (it’ll look like small, pea sized crumbles), add your cold buttermilk and gently incorporate with a spatula until a shaggy dough starts to form.
Lightly flour a clean counter surface and dump the contents of the bowl onto the counter; if the dough isn’t all sticking together yet that’s okay, you’ll get it there in this next step. Lightly flour your hands and gently press the dough together until it starts to form a rectangle an inch thick. Fold it over on itself then press down again until its about an inch thick, then repeat the fold from the opposite edge. This process is a form of lamination and is creating layers of butter that will help give you that light, flakey and layered texture. Fold your dough over one final time then lightly press it until you have a rectangle about 2 inches thick. From there, take a 2-inch biscuit cutter if you have one (or the open end of a water glass works!), lightly flour the cutting edge, then press straight down to cut out your cakes. Do this until you don’t have enough surface area for another, then reshape the dough into a rectangle and repeat the process until you’ve used it all- depending on how thick your dough is and how big your cutouts are, you should get about six cakes.
Place the cakes just barely touching each other into the prepared pan and stick them back in the fridge for about 15 minutes (or up to overnight) to rechill before baking. While they’re in the fridge, you can prep an optional milk wash by pouring about 3 tablespoons of whole milk into a small dish.
Once you’re ready to bake, with a pastry brush, gently brush a light layer of milk on top of each shortcake (this is optional, it’ll give you that shiny golden crust). Bake at 400 °F for 20-25 minutes until cakes have risen and you can see the flakey layers, and the tops have started to turn golden brown.
While the cakes are baking, prepare the topping. You can top them with the fresh strawberries as-is, or if you’d like to macerate them add them to a bowl with about a teaspoon of sugar and mix well. Macerating the berries means letting them sit in a small amount of sugar to extract the juices; the result will be a sweeter berry and extracted juice you can drizzle over the shortcake.
If you’d like to make homemade whipped cream, it’s super simple. Chill your stand mixer bowl and whisk attachment for a few minutes, then add the heavy whipping cream, the teaspoon of sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk on high for about 3-5 minutes or until it’s light and fluffy. Don’t overmix, it’ll turn into butter! Refrigerate any whipped cream you aren’t using right away in an airtight container.
Once the cakes have cooled for about 15 minutes, slice them in half and add a layer of berries. Replace the top of the cake, and top with another spoonful of berries and a dollop of whipped cream, then enjoy!
Tips & Tricks
Make sure the butter and buttermilk are very cold when making the dough- this will help you get those light and flakey layers in the shortcake!
Macerating the berries and making the whipped cream from scratch are my recommendation, but definitely optional. If you need to save time, sliced berries and store-bought whipped cream work just as well!
Nutrition Facts (per 1 shortcake serving)
Estimates. Will vary based on ingredients and serving size
Calories: ~530 kcal
Protein: ~9 g
Total Fat: ~31 g
Carbohydrates: ~57 g