Your Favorite Strawberry Shortcake, with Lemon!

I’ve made some version of this dessert at many of the restaurants I’ve worked in over the years, but today I’m finally bringing it to you. It was actually my dad’s favorite dessert growing up and I loved making it for him.

Think of this as strawberry lemonade in shortcake form. Instead of classic shortcakes, my recipe calls for both buttermilk and lemon for a brightly flavored base that pairs perfectly with the fresh strawberry topping.

The berries are also infused with lemon juice, and the assembled strawberry lemon shortcakes are topped with a lightly sweetened whipped cream. It’s a simple yet show stopping summer dessert that I make every year!

The Main Ingredients

• Fresh strawberries. Make sure your strawberries are ripe! I love making this dessert in the summer because berries are at their peak flavor. I found these gorgeous rose strawberries, but any will work.
• Flour. Use a nice all-purpose flour for this recipe for tender shortcakes.
• Baking powder and baking soda. Both are needed to help these shortcakes rise and for a tender crumb.
• Buttermilk. Buttermilk is the main liquid ingredient in our shortcakes. I don’t recommend substituting milk or cream because the tangy flavor makes the shortcakes.
• Butter. Butter is a key ingredient for flavor and texture in our shortcakes! Freeze your butter ahead of time for easier grating.
• Lemon zest and juice. Lemon zest gives the shortcakes a fresh flavor and lemon juice gives a little acidity balance to the sweet strawberries.
• Sugar. Classic granulated sugar works best here, and a bit on top of the shortcakes gives them a nice crust.
• Heavy cream + powdered sugar. While you can use store-bought whipped cream, homemade is a million times better. It requires a little elbow grease, but it’s worth the extra effort!
• Poppy seeds. I love the lemon and poppyseed combo! If you’re not a fan, you can omit the poppyseed altogether.

A Quick Overview of the Baking Process

1. Make the shortcake dough. The dry ingredients are whisked together, then the frozen and grated butter is cut in. (Freezing the butter first makes this process so much quicker and easier!) Once that’s done, I like to use a rubber spatula to fold in the wet ingredients.

Jenny’s Tip: Shortcake dough won’t be smooth and bouncy like bread dough. You’re looking for a shaggy dough to form in the bowl, then you’ll have to get in there with your hands to knead it a couple times to bring it together.

2. Shape your shortcakes, then freeze for 15 minutes. I find it easiest to shape the dough into one large square, and then cut it into four smaller squares. This way I don’t have to fuss with shaping each and every shortcake into a perfect circle.
3. Bake. I suggest brushing the shortcakes with a little heavy cream and sprinkling with sugar before transferring to the oven. This gives them a lovely golden hue and adds a subtle crunch.
4. Meanwhile, prep your strawberries and whipped cream. This can easily be done in the 15ish minutes needed to bake the shortcakes.
5. Assemble. Slice the shortcakes in half before adding the whipped cream and strawberries. you can either serve the strawberry lemon shortcakes open-faced, or you can put the top half back on top like I’ve done in the photos.

Jenny’s Tips & Tricks for This Recipe

• Grate your butter for best results. Rather than dicing the butter into cubes and cutting it into the flour mixture, I find that using grated butter gives the shortcakes a better crumb. Plus, it’s much easier on the baker! Just be sure to grate the butter right before you use it and not ahead of time.
• Freeze the raw shortcakes before baking. This prevents them from drying out in the oven, so don’t skip the 15-minute freeze time!
• Fresh or frozen strawberries? Both work! I love to take advantage of summer produce, but this recipe is for all seasons and frozen strawberries come in clutch. Make sure to defrost your strawberries before following the recipe as written.