These strawberry shortcake pops are made with real strawberries and homemade goodness—from scratch. Plus, they’re way easier (and faster!) than regular cake pops thanks to a cake pop maker.
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🍰 About These Strawberry Cake Pops
Strawberry shortcake cake pops are a bite size version of your classic strawberry shortcake: A layered dessert typically made with shortcake biscuits, macerated strawberries, and whipped cream.
The flavor profile is just like my homemade strawberry shortcake ice cream or similar to these strawberry champagne cake pops but taken up a notch with buttery bites of delicious shortbread.
Typically, with cake pops, a cake is baked, cooled, crumbled and combined with a cake pop frosting, but you can SKIP THAT STEP ENTIRELY with this easy strawberry cake pop recipe using a purpose-built cake pop maker.
This isn't a cake pop mold recipe; I'm talking about an electric cake pop baker. Check out this post for a more in depth look at how to use a cake pop maker.
These cake pops are also lighter than regular cake pops and easier to coat. They are perfect for parties or celebrations, great for food gifts, make-ahead desserts and kid-friendly!
If you want to just serve them as cake balls, without the sticks or coating, they're delicious that way too.
👉 What is the difference between shortbread and shortcake?
Shortbread = a buttery cookie.
Shortcake = a soft, biscuit-like cake, used as a base for strawberry shortcake.
Both are considered “short” doughs, meaning they have a high ratio of fat (usually butter or shortening) to flour, leading to a tender, crumbly texture. They are both only lightly sweetened.
🍓 Ingredients
- strawberries - Make sure to clean your strawberries and dice them nice and fine for these small treats. Many recipes use freeze-dried strawberries but I like to go with fresh strawberries for better flavor and texture!
- white chocolate - Opt for a white chocolate bar. If you have white chocolate chips or candy melts, that will work too.
- shortbread cookies (not pictured) - My favorite to use is Walkers but store-brand is a great, cheaper option.
*Check recipe card for full ingredient amounts.
📖 Recipe Tweaks
- Lemon Twist: Instead of vanilla extract, try adding lemon extract for zesty flavor.
- Gluten Free: For a gluten free version, just replace the regular flour with a gluten free alternative. Walkers shortbread cookies come in a GF variety.
- Super Sized Strawberry Flavor: If you have strawberry flavoring on hand, add a few drops to the batter for extra strawberry flavor.
🥣 How to Make Strawberry Shortcake Cake Pops
Step 1. Make and bake the batter. First, you are going to make the strawberry cake pop batter, transfer to the cake pop maker and bake for a few minutes before cooling.
Step 2. Make the coating. Combine the white chocolate with the coconut oil and melt it in the microwave.
👩🏼🍳 Chef's Notes: If there's excess cake batter around the baked cake balls, wait for them to cool and then you can trim or break it off.
Step 3. Insert the treat sticks. Dip the tip of a lollipop stick into the melted chocolate, then insert about halfway into the cake balls. Chill so that the chocolate firms up.
Step 4. Dip and coat. Remelt the chocolate if needed. Dip the cake pops into the melted chocolate, until covered.
Step 5. Tap. Tap lightly on the side of the mug or bowl to let the excess chocolate drip off and place in a cake pop stand.
Step 6. Decorate and serve. Decorate the cake pops with the red sprinkles and crumbled shortbread cookies. Let the chocolate harden and serve the strawberry shortcake pops!
✅ Joss' Top Tip
Most people find the hardest thing about cake pops is the coating. One of the most important things to do is melt the chocolate properly. If you melt it too long by even a few seconds, you can go from smooth, delicious chocolate to thick, grainy nastiness.
Melt at 20 to 30 second intervals at a maximum and stir thoroughly each time, just until smooth. The residual heat will continue to melt the chocolate as you stir and it will be perfect for dipping the strawberry shortcake pops into.
❓ Strawberry Shortcake Pops FAQs
Yes! You can use frozen strawberries, but I highly recommend fresh in the spring/summer when strawberries are in season and sweeter than ever. Thaw the frozen ones in the fridge and drain the excess liquid.
They can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 1 to 3 months. I don't recommend storing them at room temperature because of the fresh strawberries.
Absolutely! You can use oil instead of butter, water instead of milk and vegan/dairy free shortbread.
❤️ More Delicious Strawberry Recipes
If you tried this 🍓 Strawberry Shortcake Pops Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. And please share the recipe!
📋Recipe
Easy Strawberry Shortcake Pops
Ingredients
For the Batter
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons butter - melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk - at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup fresh strawberries - cleaned, hulled and diced
- ⅓ cup shortbread cookies - crumbled
For the Coating & Toppings
- 2 cups white chocolate - broken into pieces
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- red sprinkles
- shortbread cookies - crumbled
Instructions
- Sift the dry ingredients in a large bowl.1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour, ⅔ cup white sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add the butter, vanilla extract, milk and egg. Mix until combined. Fold in the strawberries and shortbread cookies.6 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ cup whole milk, 1 large egg, ½ cup fresh strawberries, ⅓ cup shortbread cookies
- Lightly oil and preheat the cake pop maker by plugging it in. Once hot, fill each cavity with the batter (until the batter just reaches the top - careful not to under or overfill).
- Close the lid and bake for 3 to 4 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cake pop comes out clean. Remove the cake balls and let cool. If there's excess cake batter around the ball, you can trim or break it off.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and coconut oil in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time. A small but deep, microwave-safe bowl or mug works well.2 cups white chocolate, 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- Dip the tip of a lollipop stick into the melted chocolate, then insert about halfway into the cake balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the chocolate to firm up.
- Remelt the remaining chocolate if needed. Dip the cake pops into the melted chocolate, until covered. Tap lightly on the side of the mug to let the excess chocolate drip off and place in a stand.
- Decorate the cake pops with the red sprinkles and crumbled shortbread cookies. Let the coating harden at room temperature for about 1 hour or for 30 minutes in the fridge.
- Serve!
Equipment
Notes
- Fridge Storage: Up to 5 days in a covered container. Place a piece of paper towel in the container to help soak up moisture.
- Freezer Storage: Up to 3 months. You can wrap each one individually and then place them in a freezer bag.
- Gluten Free: For a gluten free version, just replace the regular flour with a gluten free alternative. Walkers shortbread cookies come in a GF variety.
- Dairy Free Version: You can use oil instead of butter, water instead of milk and vegan/dairy free shortbread.
- Super Sized Strawberry Flavor: If you have strawberry flavoring on hand, add a few drops to the batter for extra strawberry flavor.
- Chocolate Melting Tip: Melt at 20 to 30 second intervals at a maximum and stir thoroughly each time, just until smooth. The residual heat will continue to melt the chocolate as you stir and it will be perfect for dipping.
- Frozen Strawberries: You can use frozen strawberries, but I highly recommend fresh in the spring/summer when strawberries are in season and sweeter than ever. Thaw them in the fridge and drain the excess liquid.
Nutrition
Nutrition information on In the Kitch is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may not include toppings and/or sauces.
Joss says
The flavor and texture of these cake pops is amazing! My whole family loves snacking on them and they’re great for parties.