Strawberry Short Cake with White Chocolate

Halve the strawberries first. Let them sit with sugar for 20 minutes—they’ll weep juice that you’re gonna drain. That liquid is flavor you don’t need in the pastry. White chocolate melts into the pastry cream and it doesn’t taste like chocolate cake. It tastes like strawberries went to a really nice hotel and decided to stay.

Why You’ll Love This Strawberry Cake

Takes 35 minutes of actual work, 30 in the oven. Summer dessert that doesn’t need a grill. Puff pastry gets buttery and snaps. The cream is silky. Strawberries stay soft but the filling holds everything together. Eat them warm or cold—honestly better cold. Filling gets thicker. Pastry stays crispy. No layers, no frosting, no piping skills needed. Just fold and seal. White chocolate and strawberry is not a thing people talk about enough.

What You Need for Strawberry Short Cake

Fresh strawberries—500 grams, halved. Not sliced thin. Thick enough that they hold their shape when they sit in sugar.

Granulated sugar. 60 grams. That’s enough to pull the juice out without turning them into jam.

White chocolate. 120 grams for the cream. 70 grams for the filling. Get the kind you’d actually eat. Cheap white chocolate tastes like plastic.

Puff pastry. 350 grams. Thawed if frozen, room temp. Cold pastry is harder to fold.

Eggs. Three for the pastry cream. One more beaten up for egg wash.

Cornstarch. Three tablespoons. This thickens the cream. Regular flour doesn’t do it the same way.

Milk. 180 milliliters, hot. Whole milk works better than skim. The cream tastes richer.

How to Make Strawberry Short Cake Pastries

Preheat to 210 degrees Celsius. Line a sheet with parchment. Doesn’t have to be perfect parchment—it’s just there.

Halve the strawberries, toss with sugar in a bowl. Wait 20 minutes. This is when you make the cream.

Whisk the three eggs and cornstarch together until it looks smooth. Pour hot milk in slowly, whisking the whole time. Temperature matters here—if the milk isn’t hot, you end up with scrambled eggs mixed with raw cream.

Pour the whole thing back into the pot. Medium heat. Stir constantly. It’ll go from thin to thick in about three minutes. You’ll feel it get heavy. That’s when you stop.

Pull it off heat. Add the white chocolate—120 grams—and stir until it’s gone. The chocolate melts into the heat without you having to do anything.

Sift it into a bowl. Sifting breaks up any lumps that formed. Let it cool. Twenty minutes on the counter, then 10 in the fridge while the strawberries drain.

Roll out the puff pastry. Cut squares about 10 centimeters across. You’ll get maybe 12 to 16. Brush the edges with beaten egg—the edges puff up more and look intentional.

Spoon pastry cream into the center of each square. Not too much. Leave room for folding. Handful of strawberry pieces. Some white chocolate if you want it. Fold the corners up to make a triangle. Press the edges with a fork—this seals it and looks good.

Brush the top with egg wash. Score three tiny slits in the middle so steam doesn’t blow the whole thing apart.

Chill for 10 minutes. This firms the pastry back up before it hits heat.

Bake 25 minutes. The pastry turns golden. The chocolate melts more. The strawberries get hot but don’t fall apart.

Strawberry Dessert Tips and What Goes Wrong

The pastry cream needs heat to thicken. If you skip the stove and just mix chocolate into cool cream, it breaks. The filling comes out grainy. Use heat.

Beating the egg into the milk takes time but it matters. If you dump it cold into hot milk, you’re making a scrambled egg situation.

The pastry already has salt in it. The strawberries have sugar. Taste the cream before you fold. Add salt if it tastes flat. Just a pinch.

If the pastry cracks when you fold, it’s too cold. Let it sit on the counter for a few minutes. It softens and folds without breaking.

Some of the strawberry liquid pools inside while they bake. That’s normal. It keeps the cream from drying out. If too much liquid bothers you, drain them longer at the beginning.

Chocolate that’s too cheap tastes weird in the cream. It’s worth spending the extra dollar. You taste it.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges turn brown and the pastry puffs. Don’t open the door at 20 minutes. Let it go.

These are best eaten within a few hours of baking. The pastry is crispest that way. But leftovers are still good the next day cold, straight from the fridge.

Strawberry Short Cake with White Chocolate

By Emma Kitchen

Prep:

35 min

Cook:

30 min

Total:

65 min

Servings:

8 servings

Ingredients

• For the filling
• 500g fresh strawberries, halved
• 60g granulated sugar
• 70g white chocolate, chopped
• For the pastry cream
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 eggs
• 180ml hot milk
• 120g white chocolate, chopped
• 350g puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Prepare the strawberries
2. 1 Combine halved strawberries and sugar in a bowl. Let sit for 20 minutes. Drain excess juice.
3. Make the pastry cream
4. 2 Whisk eggs and cornstarch until smooth. Gradually stir in hot milk. Thicken over medium heat until bubbling. Remove from heat. Add white chocolate, stir until melted. Sift into a bowl and chill for 30 minutes.
5. Assemble the bites
6. 3 Preheat oven to 210 °C. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
7. 4 Roll out the puff pastry and cut into squares (about 10cm each). Brush edges with beaten egg.
8. 5 Place a spoonful of pastry cream in the center. Add strawberries and some white chocolate over the cream. Fold the pastry to form triangles. Seal edges with a fork. Brush the top with egg wash. Score a few small slits for steam.
9. 6 Chill for 10 minutes. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Nutritional information

Calories

250

Protein

4g

Carbs

30g

Fat

12g

Print Recipe Save to Pinterest

Frequently Asked Questions About Strawberry Short Cake

Can I use frozen strawberries instead of fresh? Frozen berries weep more liquid. They fall apart faster when they sit in sugar. Fresh is better. If frozen is all you have, drain them twice.

How do I store these? Airtight container. Room temp for a few hours. Fridge for three days. The pastry gets less crispy but the filling holds.

Can I make the pastry cream ahead of time? Make it up to a day before. It sits fine in the fridge covered. The consistency might be thicker when cold—just stir it back to life when you’re ready to assemble.

Do I have to use white chocolate? What about dark chocolate for a strawberry cheesecake vibe? Dark chocolate works. It’s different. Darker, more bitter. White chocolate stays quiet and lets the strawberry talk. Haven’t tried milk chocolate. Probably fine.

Why sift the pastry cream? Lumps. Cornstarch clumps sometimes. Sifting breaks them up. The cream ends up smooth instead of grainy.

Can I substitute the puff pastry with something else? Phyllo dough would work if you layered it and baked it first. Regular pie dough works too but doesn’t puff the same way. Puff pastry is kind of the point though.

Do the pastries have to fold into triangles? Nope. You could fold them into rectangles. Or make them open-faced and just bake the pastry plain. Triangles just look intentional and they hold everything together while baking.