Strawberry shortcakes scream spring and I pretty much don’t know anyone who doesn’t like them. And I am not talking about those plastic wrapped shortcakes they sell near the strawberries in the grocery aisle – those are basically a twinkie cake and not what real shortcake even remotely resembles. Some people use angel food cake or I guess yellow cake – but none of those are actual shortcake.
Real shortcakes are simply a sweetened buttermilk biscuit, and they are f’’ing delicious. They are not too sweet, and kind of plain. This is a good thing because it gives your mouth all the room it needs to take in the flavor of the strawberries, which are at the height of their season right now. They are simple to make, and worth it.
I mix macerated slices of strawberries with straight up strawberries for a great texture and enough sweet strawberry syrup for the shortcakes to soak up.
Now traditionally you just use whipped cream in traditional strawberry shortcake. And really, that is all this needs. But what would really be the point of giving you ANOTHER strawberry shortcake recipe if I didn’t do something a little different. Enter lemon curd. You can make your own (sometimes I do because I enjoy it), but it is time consuming and may scare some of you away…so buy it. Trader Joe’s makes a perfect lemon curd that is natural and has all the ingredients you’d put together in a homemade curd…and it is simple as shit.
After whipping the cream all you have to do is fold in the lemon curd. Perfection, and a little brighter, more interesting dessert.
Strawberry shortcake
Ingredients
For the strawberries
- 3-4 cups sliced strawberries about 1 1/2 pounds
- Juice from half a lemon
- 2 tablespoons sugar
For the biscuits
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup buttermilk that is super cold like maybe put in freezer for a few minutes
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 egg
- Raw sugar for dusting
For the cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1/3 cup of lemon curd store bought or homemade
Instructions
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Add sugar and lemon juice to three cups of the strawberries and let them sit while you make your biscuits. Leave a cup or so of strawberries out. They will become soft and give off some liquid to make a strawberry syrup.
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
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Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
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Melt the butter and allow it to cool a tiny bit. Stir the butter in to the buttermilk and stir so you have tiny clumps of butter in the buttermilk.
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Add the buttermilk/butter mixture and egg to the dry ingredients and stir together into a dough. Be careful to not over mix or you’ll end up with tough biscuits (blah). So do it gently and eventually you’ll probably want to use your hands to form the dough.
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Dump the dough out onto a floured surface, and pat it out with your hands and then fold it over a few times and pat it out again – this will make it flaky (that is a good thing) and when you bake them they will rise and puff up nice and fluffy. Pat out to about one inch again.
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Cut the biscuits out with a 2 1/2 inch round cutter and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the top generously with the raw sugar.
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Bake for about 15-20 mins – they will be a little golden on the top – and try to bake in the center rack to ensure even cooking. Cool totally on a rack.
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Put the heavy cream and powdered sugar in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer and beat until thickened. Then add the vanilla and continue to beat until stiff peaks. Add the lemon curd and fold in with a spatula (or you could continue to mix in the stand mixer I suppose) until fully incorporated.
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To assemble your dessert, cut the biscuits in half. Then spoon some lemon cream onto the biscuit and top with the macerated strawberries, and add a few fresh sliced (unmacerated) berries on top of that. Add more lemon cream if you want and the top of the biscuit.
1/3 cup of lemon curd (store bought or homemade)
Add sugar and lemon juice to three cups of the strawberries and let them sit while you make your biscuits. Leave a cup or so of strawberries out They will become soft and give off some liquid to make a strawberry syrup.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Melt the butter and allow it to cool a tiny bit. Stir the butter in to the buttermilk and stir so you have tiny clumps of butter in the buttermilk.
Add the buttermilk/butter mixture and egg to the dry ingredients and stir together into a dough. Be careful to not over mix or you’ll end up with tough biscuits (blah). SO do it gently and eventually you’ll probably want to use your hands to form the dough.
Dump the dough out onto a floured surface, and pat it out with your hands and then fold it over a few times and pat it out again – this will make it flaky (that is a good thing) and when you bake them they will rise and puff up nice and fluffy. Pat out to about one inch again.
Cut the biscuits out with a 2 1/2 inch round cutter and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the top generously with the raw sugar.
Bake for about 15-20 mins – they will be a little golden on the top – and try to bake in the center rack to ensure even cooking. Cool totally on a rack.
Put the heavy cream and powdered sugar in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer and beat until thickened. Then add the vanilla and continue to beat until stiff peaks. Add the lemon curd and fold in with a spatula (or you could continue to mix in the stand mixer I suppose) until fully incorporated.
To assemble your dessert, cut the biscuits in half. Then spoon some lemon cream onto the biscuit and top with the macerated strawberries, and add a few fresh sliced (unmacerated) berries on top of that. Add more lemon cream if you want and the top of the biscuit.
This looks so delectable! And your post is so vibrant and attractively laid out. Thanks for sharing.
a classic combo with dreamy results! Whoever came up with this dessert knew what they were doing! Yours look beautiful!!
This is summer on a plate! Reminds me of my childhood.
This is my husbands all time favorite dessert! I will have to make him some!
This is such a perfect summertime dessert! Looks so bright and refreshing.
The lemon curd…Genius!
I have never made ‘shortcake’ before and I have realised that it is also what you call biscuits – I am from Australia and this would be similar to making scones – except we don’t use buttermilk or eggs in the dough….I will try these to see what the difference is between the 2 🙂
It isn’t summer until I have made strawberry short cake. Good thing I have already made this twice all ready.
Yes! So pretty, perfect for this time of year!
I have been looking for a good strawberry shortcake recipe for years…going to give this a try this week! I’ll be back to let you know how much my family loved it:) Thanks!
This looks and sounds so yummy!!
I can’t wait to try this! I love strawberry shortcake! Thank you for this great breakdown!
Love all that color on the plate. This is perfect for a backyard get-together in the summer.
I hate cake, so I’m always left out of the strawberry shortcake eating. This is perfect since it’s a biscuit! We grow our own strawberries, so now I’m looking forward to when they are here so I can make this!
Oh my goodness, these look so delicious!! I can’t wait to have a full kitchen again. Pinning these for later.
This looks perfect for the holiday weekend coming up and it has all the right colors! Can’t wait for summer.
Strawberry shortcakes WITH homemade lemon curd sounds like pure bliss! I love lemon curd and can imagine how yummy this flavor combo would be. So fun for spring!
What a beautiful delicious dessert! Perfect for summer.
This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing!
This is such a classic! I have never made shortcake either but adding lemon to the mix… this is on my must try list!
Decadent + Perfect early summer bites of yum!
Gorgeous pics!
These look so delicious! Strawberries scream summer time
wow those look absolutely delicious!
Wow, so summery, pretty and tempting!! Love your lovely, inspiring photos too!
Can I have one please? These look so beautiful. Lovely photos!
This is the ideal summer dessert!
oh my gosh I LOVE strawberry shortcake. I’m going to have to make this
Strawberries are my favorite. Love this shortcake recipe !
I have never thought to add lemon curd to whipped cream, but I imagine it is just delicious, especially with fresh strawberries. I can not wait to try this recipe!!!
This looks like a great twist on an old favorite! I am going to try this soon.