The Perfect Summer Dessert: Strawberry Shortcake Cups

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels

As summer rolls in, don’t we all find ourselves craving something fresh and fruity? We’ll always love chocolate or apple pie for dessert, but something about these warm, long, hot days makes us reach for desserts that are on the brighter, fresher side. And if you ask us, nothing says summer like strawberry shortcake.

The perfect balance of creamy and tart, refreshing and fruity, strawberry shortcake is often overlooked as an over-simplistic dessert — but in our opinion, there’s nothing more perfect at the end of a summer day than sitting down with a few sweet bites of strawberries, cream, and cake.

But if making an actual cake sounds like too much of a task, there’s a way around that: strawberry shortcake cups. This way, you can make as many as would be eaten, and everyone will get a perfect serving.

This recipe serves 8 and takes around 30 minutes to prepare and bake. Here’s what you’ll need:

The ingredients:

• 1 quart of strawberries

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1/4 cup butter, cubed

• whipped cream (whip up your own for a more decadent cream)

How to make Strawberry Shortcake Cups:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Slice the strawberries and set them aside. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, folding in the butter once dry ingredients are combined.

In another bowl, beat the egg and add in the milk. Slowly mix the egg-milk mixture into the dry ingredients.

Pour the mixture into 8 greased muffin cups. Bake them for 14 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Once done baking, and let cool. While the cake cups cool, whip up some heavy whipping cream.

Before serving, top off the shortcakes with whipped cream and the strawberries.