Nothing says summer like fresh Strawberries! So what could be better than fresh strawberries, a little cream, and some cake? Strawberry Shortcake is truly a summer dessert! You can make it simple and just dollop some whipped cream over fresh strawberries and a slice of store-bought angel food cake, or you can make it yourself!

To celebrate National Strawberry Shortcake Day, we decided to make Strawberry Shortcake from scratch with some homegrown strawberries of our own! See the recipe and its outcome below. We hope this inspires you to make your own at home and share with us via our contact us form OR tag us on social!

Harvesting & Preparing your Strawberries

The first step is to harvest your Strawberries, you will need between 3-4 cups, the more strawberries the merrier! When harvesting make sure to hold the strawberry lightly between two fingers, pull and twist. The strawberry should come clean off. Make sure to wash your garden strawberries thoroughly before using and dry lightly with a clean towel. Cut the calyxes (the green part) off and cut the strawberry into bite-sized pieces and set aside for later.

Making the Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients for Filling:

• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 4 Cups of Sliced Strawberries
• 2 Cups of heavy cream
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

Ingredients for Shortcake:

• 1 9.5 x 13 pan (type of pan used is discretionary)
• 10 Tablespoons of unsalted butter (+ extra to coat the baking pan)
• 3 1/2 Cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 Cups granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 Tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 Tsp. salt
• 1 3/4 Cups heavy cream

Cooking & Assembly Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
• Grease the inside of your pan with butter
• Mix 3 1/2 cups flour,  1/2 cups sugar, 1 tbsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda and 1/4 tsp. salt in a large bowl
• Cut 10 Tbsps. of unsalted butter into small chunks and mix into the dry mixture until it resembles small crumbs
• Add 1 3/4 cups heavy cream and lightly stir into the mix (mixture should be moist but not overly mixed together)
• Move the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until smooth (about 5-7 times)
• Press dough evenly into the pan
• Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown
• Let cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks
• Cut rectangle into 3 equal pieces
• Filling: Using a hand mixer or whisk, beat 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and 1 tsp. vanilla extract until soft peaks forms and then slowly add 1/4 cup sugar while still beating the mixture until stiff peaks form
• Assembly: split strawberries and whipped cream into 3rds for each layer. Using the first layer of the cake as the base, proceed to spread strawberries and then cream on the first layer. Then, stack the cake then strawberries and cream until the last layer is placed. Spread strawberries and cream as the topping.
• Serve and ENJOY!

We hope you enjoyed our strawberry shortcake fun in honor of National Strawberry Shortcake Day! Send us pictures of your fresh strawberries out of your garden and your versions of your favorite strawberry shortcake!

Remember we are not professional chefs or bakers so for any gardening and plant questions, stop by any one of our three Moana Nursery garden centers or contact us online.

Recipe inspired by Driscolls.

Disclaimer: we did not have enough Strawberries (yet) to fill out the entire cake because it’s still early in the season, a mix of garden strawberries and store bought strawberries were used in our assembly.