Homemade Strawberry Shortcake

A Homemade Strawberry Shortcake is heaven in itself. This recipe has a layer of fresh juicy strawberries sandwiched between two layers of vanilla flavoured, light, and crumbly shortcake dough. Serve on its own or with freshly whipped cream.

Making this Strawberry Shortcake couldn't be easier. I love this recipe, it allows for rustic looks and bubbling strawberry juices oozing onto your plate. The perfect recipe during strawberry season. There will be lots of juice from the strawberries after baking, which I think adds to the taste. Saves you having to make extra sauce. Simply serve with the whipped double cream.

This Apple Shortcake recipe is very similar in style. The shortcake dough for both recipes is very similar in texture to the topping for this Rhubarb and Apple Cobbler. I love to mix and match my recipes making them easy and relatively quick to make.

Ingredients used for this Recipe.

You will find a full list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Or you can click the 'Jump to Recipe' at the top.

Fresh Strawberry Filling

• Strawberries - I used 1 kilo of fresh strawberries for this recipe as they were in season. I used about ¾ for the filling and the rest to serve later with cream. As mentioned earlier, there will be lots of juice from the strawberries after baking, which I love.
• Demerara Sugar - You could use caster sugar if you wish.
• Vanilla Extract - Only a few drops are needed to drizzle over the strawberries. If you are using Vanilla Flavoured sugar, you can omit the Vanilla Extract. You could use frozen strawberries when out of season.

For the Shortcake Dough

• Brown Sugar - I love the taste of brown sugar. For this recipe, I used soft brown sugar.
• Butter - softened and at room temperature is best as it makes mixing the dough a lot easier.
• Vanilla Extract - Not much is needed, but it does add a nice flavour to the shortcake dough.
• Flour - I used Self raising flour which contains a raising agent. If using plain flour add 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and sieve together.
• Demerara Sugar - I used about 1 tablespoon which I scattered over the second layer of shortcake dough before baking.

Serve with Cream and more Fresh Strawberries

• Double cream - I used 300ml of double cream because I wanted to add a few pretty swirls after it was lightly whipped. Alternatively, you could serve it with single cream.
• Strawberries - Use the remaining fruit as mentioned above. Be generous.

How to Make this Recipe 

Preheat the oven to 180deg Fan assisted. Grease and line the base of an 8” square deep sided cake tin with baking parchment. The baking parchment will help keep the strawberry juices from bubbling out of the tin if using one with a loose bottom.

Prepare the Fresh Strawberries

Clean and hull about ¾ of the strawberries and place these in a large bowl. Leave the rest for serving later. Add the sugar and drizzle the strawberries with the Vanilla Extract. Give them a good mix and leave to macerate while you make the shortcake dough.

Make the Shortcake Dough

While the strawberries are taking on the sugar and vanilla flavours, in a separate bowl, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla extract together. Add the flour and mix until well combined. Using your hands, bring it all together to make a smooth dough. An electric mixer with a scraper paddle will make the job easier.

Divide the shortcake dough into 2 equal portions. Spread one piece at the bottom of the prepared baking tin using your fingers or the back of a spoon.

Spread the macerated strawberries over the first layer of shortcake dough. Roll out the second piece of dough to fit the size of your tin. Rolling the dough between two sheets of baking parchment will make the job much easier, cover the strawberry layer with the second layer of dough. Don't worry about any cracks or broken pieces, these will melt and soften during baking.

Sprinkle with a little Demerara sugar if you wish and bake for approx. 20 – 25 mins or until baked, with a light golden colour and slightly risen texture. As the strawberries cook, juices will start to bubble between any cracks and crevices.

Take out of the oven and leave to cool completely before serving with the freshly whipped cream and remaining strawberries.

This easy to make Strawberry Shortcake will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. But my guess is that it will be all gone before them. Second helpings are guaranteed.

If you make this recipe I would love to know what you think. Feel free to leave a rating and a comment below. Thank you so much.

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