Easy Strawberry Shortcake Cups (made with store-bought pound cake)

If you need a fast dessert made with strawberries, you can whip these up in about 5 minutes. These Easy Strawberry Shortcake Cups are made with store-bought pound cake, whipped topping, and a simple fresh strawberry sugar mixture. The result is a perfectly layered, but easy to make cup full of Strawberry Shortcake!

Strawberry Shortcake Cups

If you need a fast, fresh and beautiful dessert recipe, this is the recipe for you. I love using store bought frozen pound cake for this recipe. This recipe feels homemade, which is why I think it works so well. It’s a little elevated, and you can serve it in something as simple as a mason jar, or a disposable party flute if you really wanted easy clean up.

Ingredients:

• Store Bought Cake
  • I used Sara Lee Frozen Pound Cake. You can find these in the ice cream aisle, near the frozen pies.
  • You could also use pound cake, or angel food cake.
• Whipped Topping
  • AKA, Cool Whip. I like Cool Whip for this recipe because it has stabilizer in it, so you can prepare these a couple hours in advance if needed. If you want to use real whipped cream you can, just bear in mind you can’t make them ahead of time and they’ll need to be served immediately after making.
• Strawberries
  • Fresh is best, I do not recommend using frozen berries for this recipe. Cut the strawberries, and combine them with a little bit of sugar, water, and lemon zest. This makes for a slight amount of strawberry syrup which soaks into the cake. The best part of this!

Assembling Strawberry Shortcake Cups

• Cut the pound cake into slices. You can actually place your serving glass down onto the cake to cut it into perfectly sliced pieces if you like that, but rough cut works too. It really just depends on how you want the cup to look. This is a method, not a perfect science, so get creative and have fun!
• After mixing together the strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, and water, let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes before assembling. This will help create a strawberry syrup to soak into the cake.
• Layer the cake, then strawberries (so it soaks in to the cake!), whipped topping, and repeat.

Serving Tip: If you are making these cups ahead of time, layer cake, then cool whip, then strawberry mixture. By layering with cool whip, you’ll be able to prevent the cake from getting soggy.

Easy Strawberry Dessert Recipe

I love this recipe for strawberry season! It’s so easy to put together, and sometimes I just keep a pound cake in my freezer to make it. When my son has his little friends over, they love a sweet treat after swimming. Nothing makes me happier than cooking for these sweet little humans and seeing the smile on their faces when something tastes so good!

A couple notes and ideas for the best results with these shortcake cups.

• Use fresh strawberries. This is a great recipes for strawberries that are close to being too ripe.
• You can use other fruit! Peaches, blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, etc.
• Let the kids be creative and assemble their own cups! Super fun activity for them.
• If you’re making these ahead of time, consider layering differently for the best preservation. I wouldn’t make these any more than a few hours ahead of time for the best results. Layer whipped cream, then strawberries between the whipped cream (or cool whip) to preserve the cake a little.

If you like this recipe, be sure to check out these other fresh dessert recipes:

• Pineapple Fries with Coconut Dip
• Fresh Cherry Bars
• Melt in your Mouth Bluberry Biscuits
• Orange Shortbread Bars

If you made this recipe, share it on social media!

Tag us @GigglingFork on Instagram or use #GigglingFork. We love to see your recipes!

Enjoy!- Rachel