Strawberry Shortcake Dessert Cups
Strawberry shortcake dessert cups are an easy and delicious dessert! Moist vanilla cake topped with sweet strawberry sauce and cream cheese whipped cream! You can even make this recipe a no bake recipe! These mini dessert cups are great for parties and the perfect summer treat!
Ingredients for Strawberry Shortcake Dessert Cups
Vanilla cake layer
- Vanilla cake – For this recipe you can choose your own adventure. Here are the options:
- Bake a vanilla or white cake from a boxed cake mix according to directions. You may have additional cake leftover to snack on or use for cake pops! For this recipe, I used about half of a box mix cake.
- Bake a homemade vanilla or white cake! Check out my recipe for Classic White Cake and Classic Vanilla Cake.
- Purchase premade cake from the store. You could use a pound cake, angel food cake, or even use the strawberry shortcake cups.
Strawberry layer
- Strawberries – You can use fresh or frozen strawberries. One pound total. This is about 3 to 4 cups of strawberries. Can you substitute blackberries, blueberries, or raspberries? Yes, absolutely!
- Granulated sugar – To add a bit of sweetness.
Cream cheese whipped cream
- Cream cheese – Cold. Yes, I know that sounds weird, but for this recipe, we are doing cold cream cheese.
- Heavy cream – You can use heavy cream or heavy whipping cream. Cold.
- Powdered sugar – To add a bit of sweetness. You can add a bit more or less depending on your taste.
- Vanilla extract – A splash of pure vanilla extract adds great vanilla flavor to the whipped cream.
Garnish
- Strawberries – Fresh strawberries, diced.
Tools & Supplies for Making Strawberry Shortcake Dessert Cups
How to Make Strawberry Shortcake Dessert Cups
- Crumble vanilla cake into small chunks. Portion the vanilla cake crumbs into 28 2-ounce plastic cups, about half full.
- Make the strawberry sauce. Combine strawberries and granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook the strawberries until the juices release and the strawberries soften. Break the strawberries up with a fork or potato masher. Transfer to a heat-proof bowl to cool.
- Make the cream cheese whipped cream. Cream the cold cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Add vanilla extract and heavy cream. Whip until stiff peaks form.
- Once cooled, portion the strawberry sauce over the vanilla cake in the individual cups.
- Spoon or pipe the cream cheese whipped cream over the top of the strawberries.
- Top each dessert cup with diced strawberries.
- Seal the cups with a lid and chill. The cups can be served immediately or stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
Strawberry Shortcake Dessert Cups Recipe Tips
Make ahead
I love breaking recipes down into steps to make life easier. For these dessert cups, you can make the strawberry sauce and vanilla cake the day before you assemble the cups. Be sure to make the cream cheese whipped cream the day you are assembling the cups so it has the best texture!
Make it no bake
As I mentioned above, you can either bake your own vanilla cake from a cake mix or from scratch, or you could purchase a store-bought pound cake, angel food cake, or strawberry shortcake cups if you don’t feel like turning on the oven.
Get fancy
To make the vanilla cake crumbs extra fancy, you can remove the caramelization (browning) off the top, bottom, and sides of the cake before crumbling. This does not affect the flavor, just gives the cake crumbs a uniform appearance. Don’t throw the caramelization away though, it makes a great snack! Also, use a fun piping tip – I used a large French piping tip!
Plastic cups
The plastic cups with lids can be found on Amazon or at your local party supply store. You can also use cupcake liners if you wish!
Yield
This recipe makes approximately 28 2-ounce cups. This is an estimation. You may have a few more or a few less depending on how much filling you pipe into the cups!
Storing and serving
These dessert cups can be stored in the refrigerator for about 2 to 3 days. I love serving these dessert cups right out of a cooler at parties or picnics! The dessert cups can stand out at room temperature for about an hour.
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Strawberry Shortcake Dessert Cups
Equipment
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake
- 3 cups vanilla cake crumbs *see ingredients for more information
Strawberry Sauce
- 1 lb (453 g) strawberries fresh or frozen
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
Cream Cheese Whipped Cream
- 4 oz (113 g) cream cheese cold
- ¼ cup (30 g) powdered sugar
- 2 tsp (8 g) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (238 g) heavy cream
Topping
- ½ cup (72 g) fresh strawberries diced
Instructions
- (If baking your own cake) Bake vanilla cake according to box mix directions or a homemade vanilla or white cake. Check out my recipes for Classic Vanilla Cake or Classic White Cake. *See ingredient information for no bake options.
- Crumble the vanilla cake into small pieces. Portion the cake pieces into 28 2-ounce plastic cups, filling each cup about ½ full.
- To make the strawberry sauce, combine strawberries and granulated sugar in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-low heat stirring occasionally. Cook the strawberries until softened and thickened, approximately 15 minutes. Break the strawberries up with a fork or potato masher. Transfer to a heat-proof bowl to cool to room temperature.
- To make the cream cheese whipped cream, use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip cold cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium speed until smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add in the vanilla extract. Turn the mixer to low speed and slowly drizzle in the heavy cream. Once all the heavy cream is added, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Turn the speed to medium-high and whip the frosting until stiff peaks form.
- Portion the cooled strawberry sauce over the vanilla cake crumbs in the cups. Spoon or pipe on the cream cheese whipped cream. Add diced strawberries to the top of each dessert cup for garnish.
- Seal the cups with a lid and chill. The cups can be served immediately or stored in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
Notes
Made This Recipe?
Please leave a comment with a star rating to let me know how you enjoyed the recipe!
About Courtney
Baker | 80s Lover | Cookbook Author
Courtney is a self-taught home baker and cookbook author of “Girls Just Wanna Bake Cupcakes”. She loves to create new and unique recipes while simultaneously listening to 80s music.
This was a hit for a retirement party! Thank you! Now I’m making them for my Daughters baby shower
Hi Andrea! Aren’t they fun!? So glad you enjoyed the recipe. They are perfect for showers! Thanks for the positive review!
Hi Courtney! I wanted to let you know how much I love your no bake mini desserts! I have made probably 8 of your recipes, some more than once. They are ALL fantastic! EVERYONE loves loves and raves about them. I have forwarded your recipes to several people who have asked. Most often I make them in 5 oz sealable containers, yes it makes a few less but it’s fine, we all get a few more bites that way! Tonight I made the strawberry shortcake version. The only thing I changed was I bought a Sara Lee pound cake and crumbled it for the bottom layer. Thank you for your wonderful ideas!!
Hi Kris! I’m so happy to hear you are loving the dessert cups! They are so fun to make (and eat!) I love the pound cake idea! Super easy and delicious. Thanks for the positive review and comment!
My only issue was the strawberry sauce bled right into the cake crumbles. What did I do wrong?
Hi Robin! If you want the strawberry sauce to be a bit thicker, you could cook it for a bit longer to reduce and thicken up!
Can these be frozen?
Hi Judi! Yes they can!
Can evaporated milk be used in place of heavy cream..i am lactose intolerant.
Hi Noel! Unfortunately evaporated milk would not be a good replacement for the heavy cream.
Hi Courtney. Do you have a recipe for a full size cake version of this recipe?
Hi Samantha! No, unfortunately I do not. You could probably make the recipe in a cake pan and serve it as a scoopable dessert though!