Skip the store-bought and make summertime strawberry shortcake completely from scratch with this recipe! These lightly sweetened biscuits are simply perfect for holding juicy strawberries and fresh whipped cream.
I originally published this recipe in 2017 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more success tips. I also updated the biscuit recipe in 2022. Using less flour and baking powder, adding a bit of baking soda, and including a dough folding step, these sweet biscuits are better than ever.
Today is real food and real flavor brought to life without any peanut butter swirls, caramel drizzles, rainbows, chocolate chunks, candy bar pieces, sprinkles, or unicorn magic. Strawberries + sweet biscuits + whipped cream. Every summer has a different song anthem with the latest chart-topping hit, but the summer dessert anthem stays the same year after year. And that dessert we just can’t get out of our heads, tastes delicious any time of day, and soothes our summertime soul is most definitely strawberry shortcake.
One reader, Ruth, commented: “This was phenomenal! Best strawberry shortcake I’ve ever made! Made with local berries that you can only get for a few weeks of the year really put it over the top! The flavors melted together perfectly. I loved the buttermilk flavor of the shortcake, light and flaky, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Excellent! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Debbie, commented: “This was an easy recipe to pull together for the wow-factor presentation it made. Everyone loved not just the look but the taste of this amazing dessert! It made our Fourth of July memorable, and I will definitely be making this again! ★★★★★“
Here’s What You Don’t Know About Strawberry Shortcake
Completely homemade strawberry shortcake is easier than you think. Skip the store-bought biscuits and whipped topping. Instead, have fun making strawberry shortcake at home. Load the homemade biscuits up with juicy strawberries and homemade whipped cream that, again, is so simple. If you can reach for store-bought whipped cream in the dairy aisle, you can make fresh whipped cream at home.
I hope I’m not overwhelming you with all this homemade goodness—I promise it’s all very doable. It might even be easier than making strawberry shortcake cupcakes. And that’s what summer is about, right? Simple, happy, pure homemade goodness that celebrates the season’s fresh flavors.
Fresh Strawberries for Strawberry Shortcake
You only need two ingredients for the strawberry filling: sugar and fresh strawberries. Chop up the strawberries and mix with a little sugar. The sugar helps strawberries release all their delicious juices, which will seep down into the sweet biscuits and whipped cream. (Aka the best part about strawberry shortcake!) I recommend mixing the strawberries and sugar together before you make the biscuits; this gives the strawberries some time to juice up.
Use Cold & Cubed Butter in the Biscuits
Use a food processor or pastry cutter, like we do for pie crust, to cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients, as detailed in the printable recipe below.
How to Make & Shape These Biscuits
Biscuits for this strawberry shortcake are not nearly as tall and fluffy as regular biscuits. Just to set your expectations appropriately! Don’t expect a super tall biscuit.
The shaping process is exactly like our regular biscuits using the fold and flatten method. Flattening and folding biscuit dough creates multiple flaky layers, just as it does when we make homemade croissants. This step is a lot easier than it looks. First, pour the crumbly dough onto a floured work surface:
Flatten the dough to about 3/4 inch thick with your hands or use a rolling pin:
Fold both ends into the center:
Turn it:
Flatten again and repeat 2 more times.
Use a biscuit cutter to shape them. You can use a 3-inch biscuit cutter or 2.75-inch biscuit cutter. You can bake the biscuits on a lined baking sheet, cast iron skillet, or round cake pan. A brush of heavy cream and sprinkle of coarse sugar gives the sweet biscuits a delightfully crisp top.
Homemade Whipped Cream
Just 3 ingredients here: cold heavy cream or heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. The colder the heavy cream, the more volume your whipped cream has. Unlike store-bought whipped cream, you can control the amount of sugar. I prefer lightly sweetened whipped cream with strawberry shortcake, so we’ll only use 2 Tablespoons. And another thing! Homemade whipped cream tastes 100x better than store-bought.
With its light and billowy texture, whipped cream is the perfect topping for pies, cakes, cupcakes, cheesecake, trifles, and so much more.
Let’s Assemble Strawberry Shortcake
After the biscuits bake, it’s time to assemble the strawberry shortcakes. Strawberry shortcake is fantastic with warm biscuits, cold strawberries, and cold whipped cream—but you can also wait for the biscuits to fully cool.
Assembling the strawberry shortcakes is the fun part! You can totally set up a “strawberry shortcake bar” where everyone makes their own stacks. And you could definitely add blueberries to the sweet strawberries for a patriotic treat in the summertime.
More Fan-Favorite Summer Desserts
- Key Lime Pie – only 3 ingredients in the filling
- No Bake Cheesecake
- Peach Cobbler – with homemade biscuit topping
- Fruit Pizza
- Lemon Blueberry Cake & Blueberry Pie
- Strawberry Bread
- Berry Galette
For even more inspiration, view all of my dessert recipes. This recipe also joins 30+ others in my collection of Quick Dessert Recipes—ready in 1 hour or less!
Print
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: serves 10-12
- Category: Shortcake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Fresh summer strawberries shine in this simple homemade strawberry shortcake recipe. The biscuits don’t rise super tall, but you’ll enjoy their crisp crumbly texture paired with the soft whipped cream and juicy strawberries.
Ingredients
Strawberries + Whipped Cream
- 6–7 cups quartered strawberries
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons (75g) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
Biscuits
- 2 and 3/4 cups (345g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for hands and work surface*
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt (I recommend fine sea salt)
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 cup (240ml) cold buttermilk*
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream or buttermilk
- coarse sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Start with the strawberries: Stir the strawberries and 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar together in a large bowl. Cover and set in the refrigerator until ready to use. This time allows the strawberries to release their delicious juices.
- Make the biscuits: Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Mix the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl or in a large food processor. Whisk or pulse until combined. Add the cubed butter and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or by pulsing several times in the processor. Pulse until coarse crumbs form. If you used a food processor, pour the mixture into a large bowl.
- Pour buttermilk on top. Fold everything together with a large spoon or silicone spatula until it begins to come together. Do not overwork the dough. The dough will be shaggy and crumbly with some wet spots. Pour the dough and any dough crumbles onto a floured work surface and gently bring together with generously floured hands. Have extra flour nearby and use it often to flour your hands and work surface in this step. Using floured hands or a floured rolling pin, flatten into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle as best you can. Fold one side into the center, then the other side. Turn the dough horizontally. Gently flatten into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle again. Repeat the folding again. Turn the dough horizontally one more time. Gently flatten into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle. Repeat the folding one last time. Flatten into the final 3/4 inch thick rectangle.
- Cut into 2.75 or 3-inch circles with a biscuit cutter. (Tip: Do not twist the biscuit cutter when pressing down into the dough.) Re-roll/flatten any scraps and cut more circles until you have around 10-12 biscuits.
- Arrange in a 10-inch cast iron skillet (see note) or close together on a parchment paper or silicone baking mat lined baking sheet. Make sure the biscuits are touching.
- Brush the tops with 2 Tablespoons heavy cream or buttermilk and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown on top. Remove from the oven, then cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before assembling.
- Make the whipped cream: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream, 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until soft-medium peaks form, about 3 minutes.
- Slice the biscuits in half and layer with strawberries and whipped cream. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Each part of this recipe can be prepared ahead of time. Make the biscuits up to 3 days in advance and store covered tightly at room temperature—or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw completely before using. Prepare the strawberries in step 1 up to 1 day in advance. Prepare the whipped cream up to 1 day in advance. Store both in the refrigerator.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Pastry Cutter or Food Processor | Wooden Spoon or Silicone Spatula | Rolling Pin | 3-Inch Biscuit Cutter or 2.75-Inch Biscuit Cutter | 10-inch Cast Iron Skillet | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Pastry Brush | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand)
- Flour: Starting with cold flour is helpful when making biscuits. If you can remember, place the flour in the freezer 30 minutes before beginning.
- Baking Powder: To avoid a chemical aftertaste, make sure your baking powder is labeled aluminum free. I usually use Clabber Girl brand and though the ingredients state aluminum, I’ve never noticed an aluminum aftertaste.
- Buttermilk: You can substitute whole milk for buttermilk if desired. Acidic buttermilk isn’t needed in order for the biscuits to rise since we’re using baking powder. However if you’d like the tangy flavor, which I highly recommend, you can make your own buttermilk substitute. Add 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Add enough cold milk to make 1 cup. (You need 1 cup in the recipe, plus 2 Tbsp for brushing– you can use regular milk to brush on top.) Whisk together, then let sit for 5 minutes before using in the recipe. Whole milk is best for the DIY sour milk substitute, though lower fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch. (In my testing, the biscuits don’t taste as rich or rise quite as tall using lower fat or nondairy milks.)
- If you’re using a cast iron skillet: If your cast iron skillet isn’t well seasoned, I recommend greasing it with a little vegetable oil or melted butter. Brush a thin layer of either on the bottom and around the sides. No need to heat the cast iron skillet before using, though you certainly can by placing it in the preheated oven for 15 minutes before arranging the shaped biscuits in it.
- Older Version of This Recipe: We tested and retested this recipe based on reader feedback. Old version of this recipe called for 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour and 2 Tablespoons baking powder (no baking soda). The written recipe above yields better results with more flavorful and taller biscuits.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Perfect SOOO DELICIOUS
These are awesome! Mine puffed up nice and fluffy! Used a food proccessor to cut in the butter(i cubed the butter before adding to dry ingredients) and dang if these aren’t fantastic! Thanks Sally!
These are perfect! My girls and I just had them for dinner since we couldn’t wait (shh, don’t tell). Your directions are easy to follow, and the little tips you give are a great guide! Thank you so much!
On fathers day, My father bought strawberries and asked me to make something with them. I chose your recipe and it was a smashing hit. The sweet biscuits were light, fluffy, moist on inside and crispy on top. They didn’t rise real tall but decent enough. I think I liked them better that way. Probably for the same reason I like muffin tops better than the whole muffin. Paired with the strawberries and fresh made whip cream my father said “hmmm” with every bite. Delicious! I was never a huge fan of strawberry shortcake in the past but this recipe changed my mind. I’m making it again tomorrow for friends.
Delish
1st time ever making strawberry shortcake. After shopping several recipes, yours seemed like the best. I made this for my daughter’s graduation event at her request. It was a hit. Thank you!
This recipe is perfect! Followed step by step and used vinegar + 1% milk for the buttermilk. Can’t wait to make these again! My family loved them too. I baked them for about 17-18 minutes as they were not a golden colour at the 15 minute mark.
Hi Sally, I want to first say hope all is well! I’ve baked numerous recipes from your blog (sweet and savory) and have loved them all. I just gave this recipe a try (followed the recipe exactly) and had a lot of butter leak out of my shortcakes during the bake. Any reason you can think of why this might have happened?
Hi Jessica, thank you! This will happen if the butter isn’t cut finely enough into the flour. If you try the recipe again, work the butter into the dry ingredients a little more so there’s smaller pieces of flour coated butter. Make sure the dough is cold going into the oven, even if that means chilling it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes prior to baking.
Hi! I’d like to make this for an upcoming dinner party. How far in advance do you think I can bake off the biscuits? Thanks!
Hi Claudia, See recipe note for make ahead instructions!
I followed the recipe and it came out quite well. Due to popular demand I made them again couple of weeks back. The biscuits were so soft and flavorful. The home made fresh cream was a hit with my son:)
They were awesome!
I made them on a cookie sheet
If you use a cast iron pan do you heat it first in the oven?
Hi Anne Marie! You can pre-heat the skillet if desired, though I usually don’t.
So fabulous! I followed the recipe exactly as provided and everything is perfect! I will most definitely save and share this recipe – especially the biscuits!
Hi Sally, I have some regular yogurt that I need to use up. Could I use it as a sub for the buttermilk here?
Hi Ann, some readers have used yogurt instead of buttermilk in this recipe with great success however I haven’t personally tried it.
I was a little nervous based on some of the reviewer’s comments about the baking powder, but I followed the recipe exactly as written and it turned out perfectly! Used Bob’s Red Mill double acting baking powder. Thanks for the great recipe!
These were delicious! Not a sweet biscuit, but perfect for strawberry shortcake. I made them with my daughter. Very easy (I never used a pastry cutter before, and asked my mom how it worked, if that tells you anything). The 2 Tbsp baking powder was just fine, I didn’t have buttermilk but made a substitute using milk and vinegar as described. Everyone loved them and I saved the recipe and will make again!
I made this last night to rave reviews! It’s strawberry season in Ontario and what better way to celebrate. It’s a keeper!
My biscuit dough was still quite wet when I made the biscuits. They also spread a little when baked and didn’t rise very much. What went wrong? What do I need to do next time.
Hi Lia! I wonder if the butter was over-mixed into the dough during the cutting step. If so, the dough will end up being pretty wet instead of crumbly. Make sure the butter is extra cold before cutting it in, too. The biscuits can’t rise too high if the dough is heavy and wet. Also, did you bake them close together or did you spoon them as drop biscuits? I recommend baking close together.
I had the exact same issue and I’m thinking I may have over-pulsed the butter and dry ingredients in the food processor (as Sally mentioned). I’ll try it again with a pastry cutter.
Has anyone baked this adjusting for high altitude baking? Any tips?
Hi Kelly, I wish I could help, but I have no experience baking at high altitude. I know some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
The best shortcake recipe. Absolutely delicious!
This is seriously the best shortcake recipe I have ever used and I live in the middle of a large strawberry growing region so I have made a few shortcakes! My search is over .
Flaky, tender, the perfect partner to delicious juicy fresh strawberries and yummy fresh whipped cream.
Heaven!
Starting to realize that Sally’s Baking Addiction is one of the best sites to get recipes. We’re strawberry shortcake snobs and this is the best recipe we’ve ever tried. We didn’t want waste, so we rolled out the dough, then used a pizza cutter to make squares. Turned out amazing. Thanks Sally!
This biscuit dough was so easy to make! I’m sorry if I missed this somewhere-where do you recommend storing biscuits that aren’t used immediately? Thanks so much !
Hi Kelly! Great to hear. You can cover and store leftover biscuits at room temperature for a couple days or up to about 1 week in the refrigerator.
Even though I forgot to line the pan, they still came out wonderfully.
Instead of using a food processor to add the cold butter, I use a cheese grater. Works perfectly.
Wonderful shortcakes. I have been searching for a good recipe for strawberry shortcake and this is it!!! It is so easy to make and tastes wonderfully. My husband loves it.
Wow. This recipe is amazing. Just made it and it tasted great. Biscuits are crispy, flaky with pillowy soft layers. Definitely making the biscuits more. Thank you for sharing your recipes!
The biscuits were so good and the homemade word cream was amazing! I’m using this recipe forever!
Easy and DELICIOUS. I tried the frozen butter/cheese grater trick and they turned out pretty well. Thanks!
Delicious! I made these for a small dinner party. I nearly tripled the whipped cream recipe and it was the fluffiest and lightest whipped cream EVER. The recipe made a bit more than 9 biscuits, which worked out perfectly because I’m serving 10 people. In addition to the strawberries, I added blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. So delicious! The perfect dessert for a summer dinner party! Will make again!!
First time making something like this… fantastic taste and easy to do! Though, the biscuits didn’t rise very well… only rose to about 3/4″ high. If I were to split a biscuit, they would be quite thin, so I’ll just use 2 biscuits for one dessert.
Suggestion of maybe what went wrong with them not rising very much…?
Hi Mel, I’m so glad you enjoyed the taste! My best tips for tall biscuits are in the blog post above in the section “How to Shape Biscuits”. Be sure you are using a sharp biscuit cutter and pressing straight down (no twisting!) and that they are pressed snuggly against each other on the pan to bake.
Wow. Those biscuits are so good. Almost like a scone but lighter. Great recipie.
I was trying to find a replacement for my grandmother’s lost recipe. This was absolute perfection! The biscuits came out exactly as I was hoping for with no modification.
Thank you for sharing!