Strawberry Shortcakes With Biscuits

Sweet and simple shortcake.

The best strawberry shortcakes are easy to make and the perfect spring and summer dessert: tender, flaky biscuits topped with fresh strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream. It’s easy to make, and a huge crowd pleaser. 

Meet This Sweet Biscuit Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

What is not to love about strawberry shortcakes? Shortcakes require much less work than a full pie, but deliver the same homey, buttery, fruit-filled satisfaction. This strawberry shortcake recipe combines a flaky, buttery biscuit with lightly-sweetened fresh strawberries for a breezy spring and summer dessert everyone loves. Top with a dollop of fresh whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I love a summer fruit dessert. If you do, too, you’ll love this recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake. I also love to use spring as an opportunity to make fresh preserves like this Strawberry Rhubarb Compote and Strawberry Preserves.

What You Need to Know to Make the Best Strawberry Shortcakes

A great, tender, sweet biscuit defines a great strawberry shortcake. This cream shortcake biscuit recipe leans sweeter than a standard buttermilk biscuit, but not too sweet. This light sweetness helps make it uniquely dessert ready, while letting the berries remain the highlight.

The most important thing to know about making biscuits for strawberry shortcake is to not overmix the dough, or the biscuits will be tough. The shortbread biscuit dough should remain shaggy and in big clumps. For a full lesson on mixing biscuits, read this step-by-step recipe for buttermilk biscuits.

Ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe

The Shortcake Biscuits

• All-purpose flour
• Sugar
• Baking powder
• Kosher salt
• Cold, unsalted butter
• Heavy cream
• One egg

The Strawberry Topping

• Fresh strawberries
• Lemon
• Sugar

Fresh Whipped Cream Topping

• Cold heavy whipping cream
• Powdered sugar
• Pure vanilla extract

Step-by-Step Instructions for making strawberry shortcakes

How to Make the Shortcake Biscuits

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
3. Add the butter pieces and work the butter through the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse meal with small peas.
4. Add the cream and use your fingers to “stir” it in to the butter-flour mixture, just until the dough has formed a shaggy mass.
5. Turn the biscuit dough onto a lightly-floured surface and pat into a flat round. Dust the top of the biscuit dough with flour, and roll to about 1″ thick. Use a round biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits. Place them on a baking sheet, leaving at least an inch of space between each. Lightly brush the tops with egg and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool slightly before splitting and serving.

For the Strawberries

1. While the biscuits are baking, combine the sliced strawberries, lemon juice, and sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Toss to combine and set aside until ready to serve. 

For the Whipped Cream and to Finish

1. Whip the cold, heavy cream to very soft peaks. Add the sugar and vanilla. Continue to whip until medium-stiff peaks form. Do not over-whip the cream or it will look grainy. Refrigerate until use.
2. Split the biscuits in half and place the bottom half on the dish. Spoon a generous amount of strawberries (with some juice) onto the biscuits. Top with the other biscuit half and a dollop of whipped cream. Serve immediately.

Love a sweet cream biscuit? You’ll also love the recipe for Buckingham Palace’s official English scones recipe. 

Strawberry Shortcake: Recipe Notes

• The tender biscuit is the base for the strawberry topping, and a major component of this simple dish. Biscuits are not difficult. But they will get tough if they are not freshly-baked or are over-mixed. Read the above paragraphs for complete guidance.
• Let the strawberries speak for themselves. A little sugar and spritz of fresh lemon juice heighten the sweet fruit flavor without overpowering it. Buy the best strawberries you can find. My rule of thumb is the smaller and redder the strawberry, the better.
• If you make whipped cream, keep the cream very cold. Warm cream will not whip as high, and will be less stable than cold cream.

Love this biscuit strawberry shortcakes recipe? You’ll also love:

• Irish Soda Bread With Raisins
• Mixed Berry Shortcakes
• Strawberry Marble Pound Cake
• Pumpkin Buttermilk Biscuits
  

Originally published March 3, 2023. Updated March 14, 2025.

Strawberry Shortcakes with Biscuits

Author: Lisa Ruland

Tender, buttery sweet cream biscuits combined with a heap of strawberries for a lovely spring strawberry shortcake dessert.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Berry Macerating Time30 minutes mins

Servings: 8 to 10 shortcakes

Calories: 546kcal

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Ingredients

For the Shortcake Biscuits

• ▢ 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1/4 cup sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• ▢ 1 cup cold heavy cream
• ▢ 1 egg, whisked (for egg wash)

For the Berries

• ▢ 2 quarts fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered (about 3 to 4 cups)
• ▢ 1/2 lemon, juiced
• ▢ 1/2 cup sugar, maybe less depending on the sweetness of the berries

For the Whipped Cream

• ▢ 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• ▢ 1 rounded tablespoon powdered sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Berries

• Combine the hulled, quartered strawberries in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and lemon juice. Toss and let sit for at least 30 minutes, or up to two hours.

For the Shortcakes

• Preheat the oven to 375°F.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until well mixed. Add the butter pieces and, using your hands, work the butter through the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse meal with small peas. Do not over-mix.
• Add the cream and use your fingers to "stir" it in to the butter-flour mixture, maybe kneading once or twice, just until the dough has formed a shaggy mass.
• Turn the biscuit dough onto a lightly-floured surface and pat into a flat round. Dust the top of the biscuit dough with flour, and use a rolling pin or the flat of your hand into a 6" circle. The dough will be about 1" thick.
• Use a 2" to 2 1/2" round biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits. Place them on a baking sheet, leaving at least an inch of space between each. Lightly brush the tops with egg.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown, rotating halfway. Let cool slightly before splitting and serving.

For the Strawberries

• While the biscuits are baking, combine the sliced strawberries, lemon juice, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Toss to combine.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve, or up to three hours.

For the Whipped Cream and to Finish

• Whip the cold, heavy cream to soft peaks. Add the sugar and vanilla. Continue to whip until medium-stiff peaks form. Do not over-whip the cream or it will look grainy. Refrigerate until use.

  (Pro tip: Heavy cream will not whip up unless it is very cold.)
• Split the biscuits in half and place the bottom half on the dish. Spoon a generous amount of strawberries (with some juice) onto the biscuits. Top with the other biscuit half and a dollop of whipped cream. Serve immediately.

Notes

Making the Strawberry Shortcakes in Advance

You can make each of the components in advance (biscuits, strawberries, whipped cream), but save the assembly until right before you serve them so the biscuits stay fresh and don't get soggy or tough. Here's how:

Making Biscuits in Advance: Biscuits are best fresh from the oven. The longer baked biscuits sit, the tougher they will become. But you can make the biscuit dough, roll it, and cut it in advance, thanks to help from the freezer.

If you’d like to make the dough in advance, make the dough, roll it out, cut it into circles, and freeze each round, covered and evenly spaced on a baking sheet lined with parchment. You can bake the biscuits from frozen; they will just take a few more minutes to bake.

Making the Strawberry Topping in Advance:

The longer strawberries sit in sugar, the more moister will get drawn out of them. You can trim and cut your strawberries up to two days in advance, and add the sugar up to three hours in advance. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Making Whipped Cream in Advance

Whipped cream will stay fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several days. It will lose loft the longer it is stored, but you can rewhip it with a whisk prior to serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 546kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 90mg | Sodium: 445mg | Potassium: 466mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 1168IU | Vitamin C: 143mg | Calcium: 204mg | Iron: 3mg

Disclaimer: Nutrition information is provided for courtesy purposes only, and is an estimate not verified by medical or nutrition experts. Read the full nutrition disclaimer.