Strawberry shortcake is made of warm, fluffy, buttery sweet biscuits topped with whipped cream and rose water scented juicy strawberries in their own syrup. These make for a really special breakfast or dessert!
My daughter has been on a strawberry kick. I encourage these kicks when they last because you never know with Layla. One day something is her favorite thing in the world, the next she can’t stand it. If you follow along to my Instagram account, you probably know how much Layla and I enjoy baking together. Her favorite thing to work with in the kitchen is any dough based recipe. It’s the play-doh fanatic in her. She loves rolling and patting the dough and she’s actually really talented for a 4 year old (proud mom). When I described to her what strawberry shortcakes are (a biscuit base with sweetened whipped cream and strawberries) she loved the idea and that it involved dough.
I looked around for inspiration in a few places and saw two similar recipes that I liked the sound of. I basically mixed both recipes up, tweaked it a little and success! Very easy to make biscuits that have a crisp golden textured exterior and a soft fluffy inside. Barely sweet, and the perfect vessel for your sweet whipped cream and macerated strawberries.
The cast of ingredients:
For the biscuits: flour, a looot of baking powder (you really want to give these a good lift, a pinch of salt, enough sugar for just a bit of sweetness.
You also have two sources of fat. I prefer keeping the butter cold so that it doesn’t melt until it’s in the oven, giving you flaky little pockets within the biscuits. I find it easier to combine the cold butter into the dry ingredients by pulsing with a food processor, but many times have just used my fingertips and worked the butter into the flour manually.
Your second fat is either whipping cream (heavy cream) or buttermilk. I used heavy cream since I already had some on hand for the sweetened whipped cream mixture. To make one cup of buttermilk, simply add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a 1 cup measuring cup, then top up the rest of the cup with regular milk. Mix, and let it stand 5 minutes to curdle.
The strawberries are mixed with sugar and chilled until use which releases their juices and makes them nice and saucy. I also added rose water and liked the subtle flavor it added.
Sweetened whipped cream is very simply made by combining whipping cream with sugar and vanilla (And extra rose water if desired) and whipping until soft peaks form.
The method is very thoroughly detailed in the recipe so let’s jump in! As always, please do let me know in the comment section below if you have any questions or feedback.
Strawberry Shortcakes
Ingredients
For the strawberries:
- 500 g fresh strawberries (1 pint)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp rose water (optional)
For the biscuits:
- 3 cups all purpose flour (375g)
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup cold butter, cubed (170g)
- 1 cup heavy cream or buttermilk
- extra 2 tbsp heavy cream, buttermilk, or melted butter for brushing biscuits
For the sweetened whipped cream:
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp icing sugar (you can also use regular sugar)
- 1 tsp rose water (optional)
Instructions
For the strawberries:
- Cut the strawberries into quarters. Mash them a little with a fork to let the juices start to come out. Add the sugar and rose water syrup and toss to combine. Keep covered in the fridge until ready to use and they'll become saucy and delicious.
For the biscuits:
- Preheat the oven to 220 C (425 F).
- Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl or in the bowl of a food processor.
- Add the cubed butter either by rubbing it into the flour with your hands, or pulsing with a food processor (I find this much easier) until coarse crumbs form.
- If you used the food processor, tip the crumbs out into a large bowl. Pour the 1 cup of heavy cream or buttermilk on top. Stir until just combined.
- Place dough onto a lightly floured work surface and use your hands to knead the dough a little till it comes together into a shaggy, slightly sticky dough.
- Roll dough out or pat it out with your hands until it is 1/2 inch thick. Use a 3 inch biscuit cutter and cut out dough circles. You can reshape leftover dough scraps to continue cutting out biscuits. You should get around 12 biscuits. You can also use a sharp knife and cut squares out of the dough if you don't have a biscuit cutter.
- On a parchment paper lined baking sheet, place the dough circles. Brush with some heavy cream, buttermilk, or melted butter and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until biscuits are a nice golden brown on top. Cool 10 minutes before assembling, and prepare whipped cream while cooling.
For the sweetened whipped cream:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the cold whipping cream, the sugar, the vanilla ,and rose water if using. Beat on medium high speed until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes.
To assemble:
- Slice each biscuit in half and top the biscuit half with some of the prepared strawberries. Top with sweetened whipped cream, then replace the other half of the biscuit as a lid. Enjoy immediately!
Notes
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I was just wondering what to make out of the strawberries in my fridge! Thank you for the wonderful suggestion!
Thanks Milica! It’s truly the season xx
For me this is a must-make summer dessert! I’ve never used rose water for whipped cream, such an interesting idea, thanks for sharing!
I love a subtle rose water flavor! Thanks Alina!!
I am all for any kind of strawberry dessert at the moment. These look delicious.
Thanks Dannii!
Perfect dessert for the season. It looks amazing and have no doubt it tastes just as delicious!
Thanks Michelle!
Strawberries really are a fantastic summer fruit for desserts. These shortcakes look wonderful. I have strawberries in my garden so can’t wait to make this recipe with my homegrown berries!
Wow homegrown berries would be beautiful in these! Thanks for the comment Jacqueline !