Desserts
Strawberry Shortcake
Tender, buttery American-style shortcakes (like rich, sweet scones) split while warm and filled with sugared strawberries and softly whipped vanilla cream.
- Serves 8
- Hands-on 25 min
- Bake 15 min
- Makes 8
- Best on the day
- American
Method
Toss the strawberries (600 g) with the sugar (2 tbsp) and leave for 30 minutes, until they give off a syrupy juice.
Heat the oven to 220°C (fan 200°C, gas 7) and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Mix the flour (350 g), baking powder (1 tsp), sugar (75 g) and a pinch of salt in a bowl, then rub in the butter (100 g) with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs.
Beat the egg (1 egg) with the milk (125 ml) and vanilla (1 tsp). Pour into the flour and mix with a knife to a soft, slightly sticky dough. Do not overwork it.
Tip on to a floured surface, pat out to 2.5 cm thick and cut out 8 rounds with a 7 cm cutter, re-pressing the trimmings once. Put on the baking sheet, brush the tops with beaten egg and bake for 12–15 minutes, until risen and golden. Cool for 10 minutes on a rack.
Whip the cream (300 ml) with the icing sugar (2 tbsp) and vanilla (½ tsp) to soft peaks.
Split the warm shortcakes. Spoon strawberries and their juice over the bottom halves, top with cream and more strawberries, then put the lids on. Dust with icing sugar and serve straight away.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
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See also
Chef’s notes
- Cold butter and a light hand give a tender shortcake. Overworked dough bakes tough and flat.
- Press the cutter straight down without twisting so the shortcakes rise evenly.
- Clotted cream in place of whipped cream, as in Jane Hornby’s BBC Good Food version, makes it closer to a cream tea.
- Out of season, use frozen strawberries thawed with the sugar, or other soft fruit.
How this recipe was developed
We compared the two most-rated strawberry shortcake recipes on Allrecipes with Jane Hornby’s strawberry shortcakes on BBC Good Food.
- Sugared strawberries. Allrecipes’ Strawberry Shortcake (4.6/5 from 497 ratings) macerates the strawberries in sugar first; we do the same.
- Butter, egg and baking powder. Allrecipes’ Scrumptious Strawberry Shortcake (4.5/5 from 429 ratings) uses cold butter, egg and baking powder; Denyse’s uses shortening. We use butter for flavour.
- UK flour and sizes. Jane Hornby (BBC Good Food, 4.7/5 from 16 ratings) uses self-raising flour, butter, egg and milk with vanilla; we follow her UK quantities.
- Whipped vanilla cream. Both Allrecipes versions top with whipped cream; we sweeten it with icing sugar and vanilla.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 1 November 2026):
- Allrecipes (Denyse): Strawberry Shortcake (4.6/5, 497 ratings)
- Allrecipes (Sara): Scrumptious Strawberry Shortcake (4.5/5, 429 ratings)
- BBC Good Food (Jane Hornby): Strawberry shortcake (4.7/5, 16 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.