When we think of a romantic dinner the highlight has to be the dessert. An ideal dessert for closing a Valentine’s Day menu is this strawberry shortcake recipe, since it is light and fluffy and we must admit using strawberries brings any cake to the next level. And to top it all off, this cake is easy and quick to put together, leaving time for other preparations. Read on to see how to make it!

How to Create a Valentine’s Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

Make this delicious strawberry shortcake recipe

Image via: BHG

Strawberry Shortcake Recipe Ingredients

1 – ½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking soda

1/3 cup butter (cold)

1 lightly beaten egg

½ cup yogurt (plain) or sour cream

3 tbsp. milk

5 cups strawberries, fresh and sliced

3 tbsp. sugar

1 cup whipping cream

2 tbsp. sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

A few mint leaves for decorating (optional)

You can make individual valentine cupcake shortcakes

Image via: Lovely Little Kitchen

Directions:

1. Start by preheating your oven to 400 ^oF and greasing a round baking pan (approx. 8×1 ½ inches).
2. Combine the flour, ¼ cup of sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium sized bowl.
3. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until you end up with a mixture that looks like coarse crumbs. With the back side of a spoon, create a small well in the middle of the mixture.
4. Take a small bowl and stir together the milk, sour cream and the egg. Add this mixture into the well you created earlier and use a fork to stir everything together, until all of the flour mixture is well moistened.
5. Spread the dough in an evenly manner in the pan you greased with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula (metal works best).
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted wooden pick comes out clean.
7. Let the pan cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Then, use a small metal spatula or a knife to loosen the sides of the cake, place a wire rack over the pan, place one of your hands on top of the wire rack and the other under the pan (use pot holders if it’s hot); now swiftly flip the pan with the rack and lift the pan off the cake with care. Let the cake cool on the wire rack completely.
8. While your cake is cooling down, combine four of the cups strawberries with 3 tbsp. sugar. You can mash them a little with a fork or potato masher if you want and set them aside.
9. Combine the whipping cream, 2 tbsp. sugar and the vanilla extract together in a chilled bowl and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until you can see it forming soft peaks.
10. When you are ready to serve the dessert, cut the shortcake horizontally in half. With a spoon, spread the strawberry mixture and the whipped cream over the cake bottom of the shortcake. Then place the other half of the shortcake on top – you can spread additional whipped cream on top if you want – and decorate with the sliced strawberries and mint leaves.

Individual Valentine Cupcakes

You can easily adapt the recipe and make some individual valentine cupcakes! Just instead of using one big pan, use eight molds or a Valentine heart muffin pan. Divide the dough into the molds or muffin pan and back for about 12 – 15 minutes or until they are golden brown. Let them cool down completely on a wire rack. For serving them, just cut every mini cake horizontally in half and evenly divide the strawberry mixture and whipped cream onto the bottom halves. Top with the top halves and decorate with strawberry slices.

Other ways to serve Strawberry Desserts

As an alternative, serve this strawberry dessert in some beautiful glasses or in a heart ceramic dish. Just cut the shortcake into pieces and layer them and the strawberry mixture and whipped cream to create a beautiful dessert.

This valentine dessert looks great served in glasses or jars

Image via: Iowa Girl Eats

Ideas for Valentine Dessert

Serving a dessert on Valentine’s Day is something you simply must do. There are tons of Valentine’s Day Recipes you can choose from, depending on your and your other half’s preferences. Chocolate is almost always a winner and anything with hearts, like heart – shaped brownies will surely be fantastic.

Make this easy strawberry shortcake recipe to serve to your most cherished person for Valentine’s Day or any other special occasion. If you want to mix it up, you can use a combination of berries or even other fresh fruits that you like. Also, use a heart shaped pan, individual heart shaped mini pans for making an extra romantic dessert for the Valentine’s Day menu.

For more Valentine’s Day recipes on Stagetecture, click here.