A soft vanilla cake-like crust perfectly combines with a light layer of whipped cream cheese frosting. Top it off with fresh strawberries for delicious strawberry shortcake bars!
If you love the flavors in these bars, try some more shortcake inspired desserts. Our favorites are this No Bake Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Shortcake Kabobs, and even this poke cake!
bar version of a favorite!
Is your family like us in that we never need an excuse to make dessert? 😉 It might be a little worrisome, but it’s pretty upsetting to the kids if there isn’t a dessert after dinner. And I’m not talking about OUR kids. I’m talking about my parents’ kids… The ADULTS!
These Strawberry Shortcake Bars have been a long-time favorite among the adults ever since we first tried it! The super soft cake like crust perfectly combines with a light layer of cream cheese and whipped cream, topped with fresh cold strawberries. It’s heavenly!
It tastes just like a classic strawberry shortcake, but with a little less hassle. Plus, it easily feeds a crowd since you just make one pan and cut it into bars!
How to Make Strawberry Shortcake Bars
This recipe has two parts: The cake base and the whipped cream cheese topping. Although the steps are super simple, make sure you plan ahead with time, because it does need to refrigerate for at least 3 hours!
CAKE BATTER. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and butter until creamy. Mix in eggs, baking powder and salt. Alternate between adding in the flour and milk, beating after each addition. Beat until all ingredients are combined. Stir in vanilla extract.
BAKE. Pour batter evenly into a greased and floured a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Be sure not to over bake. Cake should be flat and light in color. Let cool completely. Set aside.
CREAM CHEESE TOPPING. In a large bowl, cream together cream cheese, powdered sugar and frozen whipped topping.
ASSEMBLE. Evenly spread cream cheese mixture over top of cooled cake. Top with diced strawberries. Refrigerate for 3 hours.
Tips and Variations
Make ahead: The ingredients of the cookie bars can be made ahead 1-2 days ahead of time and stored separately until you’re ready to assemble the cake.
Leftovers: Cover and store the leftovers in the fridge. The bars will last for a few days, but the strawberries will only last for a day or two. You can easily pick off the old strawberries and top with freshly cut berries.
Change it up: Include different fruits such as raspberries, blueberries, sliced bananas, sliced kiwi…whatever you think will taste great.
If you’re a fruit lover, I’m certain you will LOVE this simple but perfectly sweet Shortcake Bar recipe. See for yourself!
for even more fruity treats, check out:
- Pineapple Upside Down Cake
- Lemon Sheet Cake
- Cherry Sugar Cookie Bars
- Blackberry Cobbler
- White Chocolate Blueberry Lasagna
Strawberry Shortcake Bars Recipe
Ingredients
Butter Vanilla Cake
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 pint strawberries
Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 8 oz cool whip frozen
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat together sugar and butter until creamy. Mix in eggs, baking powder and salt. Alternate between adding in the flour and milk, beating after each addition. Beat until all ingredients are combined. Stir in vanilla extract.
- Pour batter evenly into a greased and floured a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
- Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. We sure not to over bake. Cake should be flat and light in color. Let cool completely. Set aside.
- Dice up strawberries and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together cream cheese, powdered sugar and frozen whipped topping. Evenly spread cream cheese mixture over top of cooled cake. Top with diced strawberries.
- Refrigerate for 3 hours.
Video
Recipe adapted from Divas Can Cook.
Is this really 484 carbs a piece?? How big of a piece? Want to take it somewhere where there are diabetics…not a good idea?
This is perfect dor those who arent fans of Juicy, creamy, super moist, sweet strawberry short Cake. If i were to make it again i would add heavy cream, poke cake style. I would add a wee bit of sugar to the berries to draw out the juices (and use at least two pints), and i would top it off with whipped cream-the real thing, of course.
Thanks for sharing! That seems great for next time!
Hi,
Are the nutrition facts accurate????
That many calories? fat? carbs?
oh my!!!
I tried to make the strawberry shortcake bars. it didn’t work well. the recipe says 1/2 cup of butter, but the video shows two sticks of butter. i believe had i used one cup of butter it may have worked. very angry that i wasted all the ingredients.
Made these for a Dinner with frieNds and they were so yummy. Unfortunately, we have abojt half of it leftover and while My husband and i would love to eat this every night, we probably shoudn’t. Have you ever tried freezing individual pieces?
Glad you both liked them!! No, I have not tried freezing them. Not sure how they’d turn out & with the frosting on them. They could last in the fridge for the week.
Just wonDEring…do you have to use flour and spray on pan? Can you use jusy the spray?
Thank you!
I probably don’t have to do both, I did, just to be safe 🙂 Spray should be ok!
Isn’t it suppose to be one stick of Butter? I’m confused. I added more powered sugar to the topping to make it thicker. Looks delicious.
In the cake part, it is 1 stick of butter, but for the frosting, it is cream cheese, cool whip, & powdered sugar 🙂
Quick question: do i use the cool whip frozen or bring to fridge temp overnight? I don’t use cool whip ofTen.
You can take it out as you start making the dessert 🙂
The only thing I did different is I took strawberries and chop them added sugar and people can put him on themselves
Good idea! I know not everyone wants them on top! Thank you!
The perfect dessert for summertime. We love this strawberry shortcake. So taSty!
My family loves these!!! They are so soft & pretty! We love the thickness of the frosting..no skimpy frosting there!
These are the perfect treat to bring to a party or shower. I love that you can add any kind of berry too!
These are beautiful bars! And, they taste amazing!
My daughter (13 yrs) loves baking and was able to make these for the family. They weRe delicious! The cake base was soft and paired well with the toppings.
I made this and OMG!! I didn’t know I was capable of making something so amazing. My kids and I demolished this!
LOL..of course, you are!! So happy you all liked it!!
if i make thEcake ahead of time, do i have to store it in the fridge?
When I make ahead, I don’t really assemble it (frost it or put strawberries on top), until I am ready to take somewhere or serve. If you do, then I would keep in the fridge.
Wondering how long to bake the shortbread if Im cutting the recipe in half, using a 9×9 square or pie pan?
It might be double the time, since they are way thicker. I personally have not tried, but just keep an eye on it.
Absolutely delicious
Thank you for saying that!
Thankfully the nutrition information is not correct so I will try this recipe this summer. You can put all of the ingredients in an analyzer and it’s about 236 calories per serving, 1/12th of the finished dessert. 💕
This is one of my go to dessert recipes for any occasion and anyone who tries it absolutely loves it!! Thank you so much for sharing!