When I was a little kid we used to go out to the local “u-pick” berry farm and pick strawberries until we had too much sun and too many strawberries. We’d make freezer jam, strawberry shortcake, and various other items from our haul. I never tired of it.
I still love strawberries and strawberry shortcake. But, there’s a problem with this love. I hate to make individual servings.
Here’s a recipe that makes a ton of dessert with very little effort. Its structurally more like a trifle than strawberry shortcake. But its not a true trifle in that it does not use custard or pudding. Instead, this uses a cream cheese whipped cream filling that is light while still tasting quite rich. Its great for picnics and large family reunions. It is quite pretty to look at while it is still in the large glass bowl.
Ingredients:
- 2-3 quarts fresh strawberries
- 2 quarts heavy whipping cream
- 2 pound cakes
- 2 - 8 oz. packages room temperature cream cheese
- vanilla
- sugar
Equipment:
- Electric Mixer (preferably with a whisk attachment) Before you start the recipe, put the mixing bowl in the freezer.
- Large Glass Bowl
Directions:
- Clean your strawberries and remove the stems. Cut each strawberry in half length-wise. If you have large strawberries, you may want to cut them smaller. The goal here is to achieve a fairly consistent size. Set aside.
- Next, cut both pound cakes into 1” cubes. Set aside.
- I could go on and on here about how to whip cream, but sneff has already done a clear and concise job of explaining it. Read his instructions on how to whip cream here. Go on, we’ll wait for you.
OK, now that you have read how to make whipped cream, we’re going to use this knowledge with the slight variant of adding cream cheese. Add the cream cheese to your large chilled mixing bowl and turn your mixer on long enough to cream the cheese, approximately one minute. Then add the heavy cream to the bowl and turn your mixer on high for a few minutes. You will see it thicken. Once thickened add vanilla and sugar to taste. I only add a few tablespoons of sugar, but you may want it sweeter.
- Now we’re ready to layer. On the bottom of your large glass bowl, put in a layer of cubed pound cake, then cover this with some of the whipped cream - cream cheese mixture. Now add strawberries and again cover it with the whipped cream - cream cheese mixture. Repeat until your bowl is full and top with remaining strawberries.
- Refrigerate for at least a few hours. Then serve in bowls and enjoy.