Country superstar Trisha Yearwood has proven time and time again that she knows her way around the kitchen — and she proved it again with a deliciously nostalgic twist on strawberry shortcake during a 2021 Mother’s Day appearance on TODAY.
After virtually joining Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb from her Nashville kitchen, the Grammy-winner and cookbook author shared her personal spin on strawberry shortcake. Kotb revealed that Yearwood’s recipe is “the perfect sweet start, it’s a whole lot of wow and only a little bit of work.”
The recipe blends nostalgic flavors with a Southern twist, culminating in a comforting and decadent treat that is a drool-inducing must-try. Simply put, Yearwood’s husband Garth Brooks is eating well.
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Yearwood was eager to show the TODAY hosts “Grandma Lizzie’s” recipe, which swaps the usual angel food cake for warm, buttery, sweet biscuits.
Trisha Yearwood’s strawberry shortcake tip: sweet biscuits and homemade whipped cream
During Yearwood’s virtual segment, she walked Hager and Kotb through preparing the “shortcake” step by step. It’s a generational recipe that Yearwood loves preparing in the summer for loved ones. The best part? It’s endlessly customizable.
“We’re doing a different version today,” Yearwood began, explaining that she baked the sweet biscuit in a sheet pan for the sake of the tutorial. Instead of a traditional round cake pan, you can make individualized portions by cutting the sheet pan biscuit into “croutons” that are thrown into a bowl and later topped with fruit.
By deconstructing the recipe into individualized portions, you can get much more creative with the fruit toppings. Think fruit salad with delicious, biscuity croutons.
“It’s really easy to do, you just slice [the cake] up, and then all these little bits are going to soak up all the berries. My grandma always made it with strawberries, but for these… I’ve got strawberries, and I’ve also got blackberries and blueberries that have been macerated.”
Yearwood explained that macerating is the process of adding sugar to soften the fruit. “That sugar dissolves and soaks in and makes them sweet and a little more tender,” she said.
After the fruit becomes tender, the mixture is ready to be added to the bowl of cut-up shortcake. “Save some of [the fruit],” Yearwood instructed while adding fruit to the cake. “But I’m going to put most of these right into the bowl [of cake]. And all that sugar, that juice from the berries, will also soak into the cake.”
Last but certainly not least, once you’ve dished up the cake and fruit into bowls, it’s time for the whipped cream topping. Homemade whipped cream and some extra fruit on top take it to the next level, the magical final touch on a mouthwatering dish.
“And it’s really pretty,” Yearwood said after proudly presenting the final product. “I love that it’s something easy to make and looks really elegant.”
You can find the full recipe for Trisha Yearwood’s strawberry shortcake recipe via TODAY.
Trisha Yearwood dishes up her strawberry shortcake recipe in the summer with “fresh-picked berries”
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Known for her longtime cooking series Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, Yearwood has become a trusted source for cozy, family-inspired meals — and her strawberry shortcake was no exception. Fortunately for fans of Yearwood’s culinary catalogue, she shared the official recipe with TODAY.
“I’m a fan of salt and sweet mixed together. My grandmother Lizzie Paulk often used biscuits in place of pastry in her recipes,” Yearwood wrote. “Nowadays, most people use angel food cake or pound cake for this dessert, but I like the old-fashioned mix of the not-so-sweet biscuit with the sweetness of the strawberries and the whipped cream. I serve this dessert in the summer with fresh-picked berries from our local strawberry farm.”
