Biscuit-like cake layers combined with sweet macerated strawberries and fresh whipped cream make this beautiful dessert a true show stopper. Instead of individual strawberry shortcakes, this recipe is perfect for a party or a crowd.
Why this recipe works so well
This “from scratch” cake recipe is worth the little bit of extra effort and is actually quite easy. This is a shortcake cake, not individual biscuits.
However, the texture of the cake is more like a biscuit than a pillowy, sponge cake. And because of that, the layers truly hold up to the juicy strawberries like strawberry shortcake should.
Because this version is a whole cake rather than individual servings, I find it so much better when serving to multiple guests.
Expert Tips and FAQs:
After reading through the instruction you can print the recipe at the end of the post. All ingredients and measurements are listed there.
- Shortening – Regular or butter flavored should be fine. We have not tried substituting with butter. However, it’s common knowledge that you can swap shortening for butter and vice versa in baking.
- Milk – For the best cake we recommend whole milk, but you can use 2% instead. We have not tested this recipe with dairy free milks.
- Lemon zest – We will zest lemons before juicing and slicing for other recipes and often have zest in the freezer. You can do it the other way too! Zest your lemon, then juice it and freeze the juice in ice cube trays.
- Strawberries – Being that these are the star of the show, be sure to find gorgeous, plump, ripe berries! For a pretty presentation, do not hull the garnish berries. The leaves add a nice pop of green. Leave some berries whole and cut others in half. Pile randomly on top.
- Heavy whipping cream – If you prefer, you can use a tub of Cool Whip. We prefer to make our own when we can!
How to make strawberry shortcake cake:
Please note that there is a printable version of this recipe farther down in this post. The instructions below include step by step photos to help you visualize the process. Please print the recipe below to get the ingredient list and measurements.
- In a medium bowl, combine 1/4 cup of sugar, the flour, shortening, milk, egg, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt.
- With mixer at medium speed, beat mixture until well combined and a soft dough forms.
- Spread (it will be thick, not pourable) the dough evenly into the prepared cake pan.
- Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown on top.
- Meanwhile while the cake is baking, remove 6-8 nice looking berries and set aside for garnish (see tip above).
- Wash and hull the remaining berries.
- Cut the berries into fourths.
- Sprinkle the cut strawberries with 1/3 cup sugar to macerate, mash slightly. This is an important part of strawberry shortcake filling!
- Beat the heavy cream and powdered sugar until medium-soft peaks form. It should be firm but not stiff. Set aside.
- Remove cake from the oven and invert onto a plate or cutting board.
- Using a bread knife, carefully split hot shortcake horizontally. You can also use non-flavored dental floss!
- Spread both halves of the cake evenly with softened butter.
- Spoon half of macerated strawberry mixture onto the bottom half of the cake.
- Spread half of the whipped cream on top of the berry layer.
- Place other cake half on top and spoon remaining macerated strawberry mixture over the top.
- Spread the remaining whipped cream over the macerated strawberries.
- To decorate, garnish with the reserved strawberries.
TIP: Watch the video in this blog post to see this cake being made.
More amazing strawberry recipes:
Strawberries are my favorite fruit, hands down. Here are several strawberry recipes that I think you will love!
- Strawberry Pie with jello, like grandma used to make!
- Our super pretty Strawberry Cake is made from scratch with a little help from strawberry jello.
- Start your day with this fresh Strawberry Banana Smoothie or this beautiful Strawberry Beet Smoothie. If muffins are more your thing, these Fresh Strawberry Muffins are amazing.
- The delicious cousin to my most popular recipe, Pineapple Dream, is this amazing Strawberry Dream dessert.
- If frozen treats are your jam, try my Strawberry Frozen Yogurt as well as these Strawberry Banana Popsicles!
- Let’s not forget about the cocktails! Strawberry Kiwi Sangria is perfect for a bridal shower or brunch. And of course, who doesn’t love a Strawberry Margarita!
- And honestly, who can resist decadent chocolate covered strawberries.
- But that’s truly not all, I have a lot more. You can see all the strawberry recipes here.
- I urge all shortcake fans to try my Strawberry Shortcake Trifle this summer as well.
- This Strawberry Lasagna is creamy, dreamy, and bursting with strawberry bliss.
- This gorgeous, show-stopping Strawberry Bundt Cake will wow your guests.
- These Strawberry Shortcakes are a delicate dessert for spring and summer parties!
I found this original cake recipe in my favorite cookbook of all time, the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. I’ve changed it slightly by adding whipped cream to the inner layer and making a couple other tweaks. If I could only keep one cookbook from my collection, it would be this one.
I love to bake and cook and share my recipes with you! I know it’s hard to remember to come back and search, so I’ve made it easy for you with my weekly newsletter! You can subscribe for free and I’ll send you delicious recipes every week right to your email.
Strawberry Shortcake
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItIngredients
Shortcake
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup shortening
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Toppings/Filling
- 2 pounds strawberries divided
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter or margarine softened
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Things You'll Need
Before You Begin
- Shortening - Regular or butter flavored should be fine. You can substitute butter if you prefer but the cake texture may be a little different. We are going for biscuit texture, not sponge cake texture.
- Milk - For the best cake we recommend whole milk, but you can use 2% instead. We have not tested this recipe with dairy free milks.
- Lemon zest - Zest lemons before juicing and slicing and store zest in the freezer. You can do it the other way too! Zest your lemon, then juice it and freeze the juice in ice cube trays.
- Strawberries - Being that these are the star of the show, be sure to find gorgeous, plump, ripe berries! For a pretty presentation, do not hull the garnish berries. The leaves add a nice pop of green. Leave some berries whole and cut others in half. Pile randomly on top. You might not use all of the garnish berries.
- Heavy whipping cream - If you prefer, you can use a tub of Cool Whip. We prefer to make our own when we can!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450° F. Butter or spray a 9-inch round cake pan.
Prepping
- Remove 6-8 nice looking berries and set aside for garnish.
- Wash and hull the remaining berries. Cut into fourths and sprinkle with 1/3 cup sugar to macerate, mash slightly.
- Beat the heavy cream and powdered sugar until medium-soft peaks form. It should be firm but not stiff. Set aside.
To Make the Shortcake
- In a medium bowl, measure 1/4 cup sugar, flour, shortening, milk, egg, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt.
- With mixer at medium speed, beat mixture until well combined and a soft dough forms. Spread the dough evenly into the prepared cake pan. Bake 15 minutes or until golden on top.
- Remove cake from the oven and invert onto a plate. Using a bread knife, carefully split hot shortcake horizontally. You can also use plain (no flavorings) dental floss!
- Spread both halves of the cake evenly with softened butter.
Topping and Filling the Shortcake
- Spoon half of macerated strawberry mixture onto the bottom half of the cake. Spread half of the whipped cream on top of the berry layer.
- Place other cake half on top and spoon remaining macerated strawberry mixture over the top.
- Spread the remaining whipped cream over the macerated strawberries.
- To decorate, garnish with the reserved strawberries.
Nutrition
Amanda Davis
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Cheryl says
Flavors were good but cake crumbled and looked a mess. Overall presentation was a zero. Leaving no time for it to cook before assembly made the whipped cream unstable but I was able to get it into the fridge quickly and that helped. I added a touch of vanilla to the cream.
Rochelle says
I agree with some of the comments above. The whipped cream needed a little more powdered sugar and perhaps a touch of vanilla. I enjoyed the zest in the cake, otherwise it would have tasted like cardboard because it was so dry (and I spooned and leveled the flour appropriately). I never got to assemble the cake as my hand slipped when I was inverting the cake and it crumbled. However, I did split the larger remaining pieces in half with a knife and assembled it more like a traditional strawberry shortcake individually. Not sure I’ll be trying this again.
Angela says
Terrible recipe. Cake crumbled and did not taste good.
All of my ingredients were fresh.
I followed the recipe to a T
Amanda Formaro says
I’m sorry you had trouble. This is a delicate cake and if you don’t measure properly, the cake can be too crumbly Sounds like you may have had too much flour or didn’t cut the cake in half while it was hot as the recipe instructs.
Bella says
This is a really bad recipe. I should have been more suspicious and read the comments when I was finished with my cake batter as it definitely seemed too dry after following instructions.
First it needs to be a bigger yield. Resulting cake is super thin. Second the batter is too dry. You end up with an incredibly dry batter which I thought maybe was normal for this type of cake. But there’s no way to attempt cutting this in half after baking.
For the whipped cream, for most peoples tastes it definitely needs more sugar.
My oven is pretty normal and the cake had to come out 6 minutes early. Don’t go by the timing instructions if you try this recipe. But I don’t recommend trying this recipe, find another.
Amanda Formaro says
I’m sorry you had trouble. This recipe always works for me, but baking is a science. If you measure anything incorrectly, it will ruin the whole thing. The cake IS supposed to be thin and has a texture similar to a biscuit, like traditional strawberry shortcakes.
Ryan says
I actually just have a question before I make this, what size cake pan is recommended
Amanda Formaro says
Hi Ryan! The printable version of the recipe at the bottom of the post has the full recipe ingredients, measurements, pan sizes, and instructions. The pan size is 9-inch. Hope that helps :)
Carly says
I’m sorry but there’s no way to cut this cake layer in half and make the picture shown. It’s way too brittle. It should’ve been made with 2 separate cake layers. The whip cream also needed much more powdered sugar for that ratio of whipping cream. Super disappointed.
Amanda Formaro says
I’ve made this cake many times, and while it is delicate, I’ve been able to cut it in half every time. Be careful when measuring your ingredients as it can affect the texture of baked goods. For example, 1 cup of flour measured with the scoop and sweep method yields 4.5 ounces. However, 1 cup of flour scooped out of the bag using the measuring up can yield an entire ounce more.
Sarah says
Partner and I tried to recreate this recipe but it tasted like lemon bread instead of shortcake. (It still tasted good though but not what we wanted) an hour after eating it we both started to feel ill.
Amanda Formaro says
If you started to feel ill that sounds like one or more of your ingredients may have been bad. I’ve never experienced this cake tasting strongly of lemon.
LynneP says
I had the same crumbling issue with the cake. I followed the recipe exactly as it was given. I think the batter was too dry. I would revise the recipe with an added note that suggest you add more milk a teaspoon at a time until you get a smooth consistency.
This was very frustrating to get to this point in the recipe and have the cake just crumble into pieces. Especially when it could have been an easy fix.
Che says
Someone in my family strongly suggests that I maceration the strawberries overnight. It’s that necessary?
Amanda Formaro says
No it’s not necessary.
Andie says
Does it make a big difference if I use butter instead of shortening??
Amanda Formaro says
Shortening will provide a different texture than butter.
Deepa says
Made this for family and they loved it. Thank you. One question – I followed the recipe to the letter and I thought the shortcake tasted of a tad bit too much baking powder (texture was great). Have you tried reducing the bp? Will it mess up the biscuit?
Amanda Formaro says
I’ve never noticed that. Was your baking powder expired?
Tanner says
I’m in the midst of making this and the only question I have is where is the butter used? It calls for 4 tablespoons but never says where to use it. I’m guessing it’s for the cake since my cake is not ideal looking. This could be where the others also had trouble
Amanda Formaro says
It does state in the recipe where to use the butter. You spread it on the sliced layers:
“Spread both halves of the cake evenly with softened butter.”
Kristen says
How many does this feed? Hoping to make it for a party this weekend.
Kristen says
Never mind! I see it now, 12 servings
Alex says
Just made this – was awesome and so easy. The shortcake was perfect – more biscuit line than spongey cake. Cut beautifully- looked just like the picture!
Hayley says
Hoping to make this tomorrow. How long can it sit, assembled, before enjoying?
Amanda Formaro says
You should be able to make this a day ahead and store in the fridge.
Bryana says
Made this for fathers day! It turned out amazing. I used butter instead. Cutting the cake part was a tad challenging but I managed! 5/5 stars! Ill be making this again
Levy says
Hi,
Is it really 450 F oven temp?
Amanda Formaro says
Yes, the cake is only in the oven for 15 minutes.
Linetti says
I made this strawberry shortcake for the first time. And I’m not a baker. It was perfect! My friends think it was professionally done. Haha I wish I could show you the pic and the taste was excellent! I’m making this again. I’m just too proud of myself. Haha thanks for this recipe!
Sarah says
I followed this recipe to a T and it turned out horrible… the cake was very thin and crumbled when I tried to cut it. I don’t understand what I did wrong, but I followed every part of the recipe exactly as it is written… more like a dump cake. Not pretty at all.
Amanda Formaro says
Sorry you had trouble. I’ve never had that experience and have made this recipe several times. Without being in your kitchen with you I am unable to troubleshoot.
Connor says
Mine did the same!
Heidi says
Same. I measure every perfectly and followed the recipe step by step :( it’s a crumbly mess
Amanda Formaro says
I wish I could help. We have tested this recipe multiple times without issues. You can see that in our photos as well as our video. I have not been able to replicate this problem and many people have been able to make the cake without these issues. We will continue to try and trouble shoot and will of course let you know what (if anything) we discover!
Gladys says
I made this for Mother’s Day and it was a huge hit! My mom is in her 90s and she used to make strawberry shortcakes all the time, it’s her favorite dessert. She was so impressed by this cake! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. My mom may not have many Mother’s Days left, and this really made this one special.