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Simple, light and refreshing Strawberry Shortcake Bars are a perfect summertime dessert. This is a seasonal favorite, and one tempting treat!
If you love the flavors in these Strawberry Shortcake Bars, you need to try these other shortcake inspired desserts!! Our favorites are 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 should be no surprise that we love dessert, and one of our favorite summer treats is this recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Bars.
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!
Simple Strawberry Shortcake Bars
Although the steps are super simple, make sure you plan ahead with time, because it does need to refrigerate for at least 3 hours!
PREP. Preheat oven to 350°F and remove cool whip from freezer to thaw. Slice up strawberries and set aside.
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 for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Note: Be sure not to over bake. Cake should be flat and light in color. Let cool completely. Set aside.
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 sliced strawberries.
CHILL + SERVE. Refrigerate for 3 hours.
Tips + Variations
Make ahead: The ingredients of the Strawberry Shortcake Bars can be made 1-2 days ahead of time and stored separately until you’re ready to assemble the cake.
STORE covered 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.
For a tasty variation, include different fruits such as:
- raspberries
- blueberries
- sliced bananas
- sliced kiwi
- or your favorite fruit!
If you’re a fruit lover, I’m certain you will LOVE this simple but perfectly sweet strawberry bars. 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
Ingredients
Butter Vanilla Cake
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 pint strawberries
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ¼-½ cup powdered sugar
- 8 ounces cool whip, thawed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the Cool Whip from the freezer to thaw. Hull and slice the strawberries and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the 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 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake, the cake should be flat and light in color. Let cool completely and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and thawed Cool Whip. Evenly spread cream cheese mixture over top of cooled cake. Top with sliced strawberries.
- Refrigerate for 3 hours.
Video
Notes
- Using room temperature ingredients helps them incorporate more easily, resulting in a lighter cake.
- Ripe strawberries are a vibrant, deep red color from stem to tip with a sweet aroma and will have the BEST flavor. We love to pick up fresh strawberries from farmer’s markets.
- Let the cake cool completely before adding the frosting, we’ve made this mistake before and the frosting will melt right into the layers!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from Divas Can Cook.
The perfect dessert for summertime. We love this strawberry shortcake. So taSty!
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!
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 🙂
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 🙂
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!
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.
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.
Hi,
Are the nutrition facts accurate????
That many calories? fat? carbs?
oh my!!!
I was wondering the same thing! If it is, no thank you!
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!
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?