Walking Strawberry Shortcake

Walking Strawberry Shortcake- This portable dessert is as simple as it is delicious. It’s the perfect treat for any summer barbecue!

June 1, 2025 by Nicole Collins

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Today, we’re making Walking Strawberry Shortcake!

You know, overall, I’m not really a fruity dessert person. Give me chocolate and peanut butter 24/7, and I’m good. But, there’s just something about summertime that turns me into a shortcake enthusiast. We’ve made all different kinds of fruity shortcake variations around here. We’ve made shortcut versions. We’ve made traditional and non traditional versions. We’ve made peach and strawberry and banana versions. We’ve even made a roasted strawberry version that incorporated a little chocolate.

But you know what we’ve never made? A portable version! And, we fix that TODAY.

You guys know how wires have been getting crossed in my brain like crazy lately. Which is fine because it’s resulting in some pretty awesomely unexpected fusion recipes. And, that’s kinda what happened here. I was talking to someone about walking tacos, got to thinking about how to turn that concept into dessert, and here we are!

This recipe comes in 3 parts: the strawberries, the whipped cream, and the mini muffins. So let’s start with the strawberries.

For me, the best part about strawberry shortcake is how fresh and sweet the berries are. And, that is so easy to accomplish. We’ll start by dicing just shy of a pound of fresh strawberries and tossing them in a bowl with some sugar. That’s it. That’s all we have to do. Give everything a mix, and walk away for 30 mins. The berries will macerate in the sugar which will naturally draw out some of the liquid from the fruit and help the berries become nice and soft and sweet. It’s a magical little trick that is zero risk and all reward.

Next, we’ll make the whipped cream. I like to make a homemade vanilla bean whipped cream, because it is so unbelievably delicious with strawberry shortcake. But honestly, if you cheated and used whipped cream from a can, I wouldn’t tell anyone. It would be a smidge less delicious, obvi. But, this is a shortcut I’ll approve.

I like to make whipped cream in the stand mixer, because it goes faster. But if you don’t have one, you can do this in a chilled bowl with the frozen beaters of a hand mixer. It just takes a little longer. So, we’ll whip the cream until soft peaks form…meaning the cream has some body but the tip of the whipped cream still folds over itself when you pull the beater out of the bowl. Then, we’ll add in a little powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste, and beat again until stiff peaks form…meaning when you pull the beater out of the bowl, the cream stays standing up straight. Transfer your whipped cream to a piping bag to make it a little easier to fill our baggies, and we’re almost at the finish line.

For the walking shortcake part of this recipe, we’re going to use little baggies of vanilla mini muffins. These little muffins come in all kinds of flavor varieties, and I’ve had a couple people tell me they’ve tried this recipe with both confetti and chocolate muffins. But for me, I like to go tried and true with the vanilla muffins. We’ll simply cut off the tops of each baggie, and fold down the edges of the baggies to create a little bowl situation. Now if I’m being so for real, the hardest part of this recipe is folding down the edges of the baggies. And honestly, nothing would spontaneously combust if we skipped that step. It just helps make the baggies a little more stable and easy to fill.

The last thing to do is assemble. I like to give the muffins a gentle squeeze in the baggie to break them up a little bit (which creates easier bites). Then, we’ll spoon some of our sweet berries on top of the muffins, pipe in a squeeze of whipped cream, and top the whole situation with a couple more of those berries. Stick a disposable spoon in the baggie for easy eating, and we’re ready to serve!

These simple little desserts have no business being as delicious as they are. They’re perfectly sweet and creamy. Perfectly bright and summery. I usually share the dessert recipes that I make here with my loved ones, but there was no sharing that happened with these. NOPE.

These are great for a summer barbecue, a pool party, a road trip…pretty much anything where handheld food is a necessity. And now that the wheels in my brain are turning, the possibilities are endless. Walking banana pudding. Walking dirt cake. Walking strawberry pretzel salad.

Though…wait to you see the reimagined strawberry pretzel salad recipe I have coming VERY soon for you!

Alright, everyone! Please be sure to tag me on social media when you recreate these this summer. I LOVE to see it!

I hope you guys enjoy! And, let’s eat!

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Walking Strawberry Shortcake             

Serves: 5          Print

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups strawberries, diced

• 1 ½ tbsp sugar

• ½ cup heavy cream

• 1 tbsp powdered sugar

• ½ tsp vanilla bean paste

• 1 box (5 bags) vanilla mini muffins (I use Little Bites)

Directions:

1. Macerate the berries: In a mixing bowl, combine strawberries and sugar. Toss well to coat the berries. Allow the berries to sit and macerate for at least 30 mins.

2. Make the whipped cream: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add heavy cream. Whisk on high for 1-2 mins until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste. Whisk on high for about another minute until stiff peaks form. Transfer whipped cream to a piping bag.

3. Assemble the shortcakes: Cut off the top of each baggie of muffins, and fold the bag down about a half inch to create a little bowl. Gently squeeze each bag of muffins between your hands to break up the muffins. Top the muffins with a spoonful of berries, a squeeze of whipped cream, and another little spoonful of berries. Serve with disposable spoons, and enjoy!
   

Recipe notes:

*These are best served fresh. The whipped cream and berries can be prepared in advanced, but wait to assemble until you’re ready to serve.

*I really like vanilla bean paste, because I like to see the little black specks from the vanilla bean. You could substitute vanilla extract, if necessary. You could also skip making the whipped cream completely and use canned whipped cream. But, the homemade is SO much better!

*If you have a taco holder (or even a dish drying rack), both work great for helping stand up these baggies for filling and serving. 

*This recipe is easily doubled/tripled to make as many servings as you need. The muffins typically come in packs of 5 or 10. And, the qtys of berries we use for one batch is just a little less than 1 lb of strawberries. 

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