Mini Vegan Strawberry Matcha Shortcakes

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100% dairy and egg-free matcha marble shortcakes topped with a simple strawberry coconut whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and fresh strawberry halves. Make this delicious spring/summer treat for dessert, high tea, or even an outdoor patio picnic!

If I had to pick one strawberry matcha dessert to have for the rest of my life, this would be it. I’m not sure why it took me so long to finally publish a dessert with this heavenly flavour combination! I used to be a coffee/espresso girl, but I really started getting into matcha in the last two years. If you follow me on Instagram, you might’ve noticed an increase in matcha content, especially paired with everyone’s favourite heart-shaped red berry.

There’s just something about the grassiness and earthiness of matcha that harmonizes elegantly with the sweetness and tartness of strawberries.

Check out my TikTok and Instagram for lots of matcha drink creations, with many more to come!

a strawberry matcha shortcake on a small wooden board with more shortcakes in the background (out of focus)

Shortcake vs Regular Cake

I often hear people asking how shortcake differs from, let’s say, your regular vanilla cake base. What makes the cake “short”? Why are strawberry shortcakes sometimes spongy? How are vegan shortcakes different than regular shortcakes? Here’s a quick history lesson that’ll hopefully help clear things up before we get to the recipe.

Shortcake

The term ‘shortcake’ first appeared in an English cookbook in the late 1500s. It was used to describe a pastry that is crispy, buttery, and crumbly (like a scone). (via Munchery.com and Zigsbakery.com)
When baking leaving agents like baking powder and baking soda were proliferated in the US in the mid 1800s, it was added to shortcakes and paired with strawberries and whipped cream. (via Munchery.com)
Now, the term ‘shortcake’ seems to be used in slightly different ways from place to place. Some consider it synonymous with ‘biscuit’ or ‘scone’, while some supermarkets make their strawberry shortcakes with spongecake.

How is shortcake different from “regular” cake, for a lack of a better word?

Although there seems to be many variations of shortcake, most would agree that it has a more crumbly texture than your average cake.
shortcakes are commonly served with freshly whipped cream and fruits (such as strawberries

strawberry matcha shortcakes on a rectangular wooden board

How are vegan shortcakes made?

Through my search on the web, I found several different variations of strawberry shortcake recipes. Some bakers go for the more classic biscuit, whipped cream, and fruit combo. Some have these wonderful tiered cakes that are served by the slice. The ingredients used also vary quite a bit. For this recipe, I aimed to combine the best of both worlds and have a cake-y base, served like a biscuit.

If there’s one thing I learned while studying food history in university, it’s that food culture, preparation, and consumption is constantly evolving and ever-changing. While it is important to preserve traditions, it’s the exploration of new and innovative ways of making and serving food that keeps our tastebuds hooked for more.

Ingredients

For the strawberry sauce

fresh or frozen strawberries
granulated white sugar
lemon juice

For the matcha marble shortcake

Dry ingredients:

all purpose flour
leaving agents: baking powder and baking soda
culinary grade matcha powder
granulated sugar
a pinch of salt

Wet ingredients:

plant-based milk (I recommend unsweetened soy)
apple cider vinegar
vegan plain and unsweetened yogurt (chilled)
vegetable oil

For the strawberry coconut whipped cream

coconut whipping cream, chilled (I used Cha’s Organics)
powdered sugar
strawberry sauce

Steps

To make the strawberry sauce, simply simmer the fresh or frozen strawberries with sugar and a bit of lemon juice until the sugar is melted and the strawberry are soft and still bright red in colour. Allow the compote to cool before puréeing into a sauce. Cool completely in the fridge before adding to the whipped cream later on.

You can use an immersion blender directly in the pot or transfer to a small blender. It’s a small quantity so I wouldn’t recommend using a big Vitamix blender.

strawberry compote simmering in a small saucepan — Note- I made a much bigger quantity here for future use, but the recipe makes less.

blended strawberry sauce in a glass jar — Note- I made a much bigger quantity here for future use, but the recipe makes less.

To make the matcha marble cake, whisk together the wet ingredients for the shortcake in one bowl and the dry ingredients in one bowl. Exception: the matcha powder goes in later and the sugar gets whisked with the wet ingredients so that it dissolves more evenly.

Pour the wet mix into the dry bowl and gently mix with a fork or a rubber spatula until chunky but not well mixed at all. Move half of the barely mixed batter into another bowl and mix in the matcha powder. The matcha batter might look very concentrated, but it’ll be baked with the plain batter.

matcha powder added to half of the batter

Once both bowls of batter are mixed just until there are no traces of flour (don’t over-mix!), scoop the batter into a 8×8 square cake pan lined with parchment paper. I can’t tell you exactly how to create the marble pattern; have fun experimenting! Make sure the batter sticks to all sides of the pan (by using a spatula) since it doesn’t flow like normal cake batter.

The cake is baked when the top is golden in colour and a toothpick inserted at the centre of the cake comes out crumbly, but not wet. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for at least 10 minute before attempting to transfer to cooling rack. If the cake is still very delicate, wait for it to cool even more before tipping it out of the pan. You might need to use a metal spatula to free the sides of the cake from the pan. Utilize the parchment paper to nudge the cake out, but don’t rely on it to hold up the cake.

Wrap the cake in plastic wrap or seal it up in a ziplock bag and store in the fridge if you’re making the cake ahead of time.

unbaked matcha marble shortcake batter in a 8x8 cake pan

baked matcha marble shortcake in a 8x8 cake pan

Meanwhile, make the strawberry whipped cream by whipping together the cold coconut whipping cream, powdered sugar, and the homemade strawberry sauce.

You can use a handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer. I would ideally use the whisk attachment, but sadly my electric mixer didn’t come with one. The attachment shown below also works, but it takes longer to beat the cream until fluffy.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

beat coconut whipping cream with handheld mixer

beat coconut whipping cream and strawberry sauce with handheld mixer

There are two ways to go about assembling the cake(s):

Spread the strawberry coconut whipped cream directly on the 8×8 sheet cake, garnish, slice into as many pieces as you wish, and serve.
Cut the 8×8 cake into 9 square pieces, cut into circles using a cookie cutter, assemble, and serve them as mini cakes. You can even leave the cake pieces as squares.

8x8 matcha marble cake sliced into 9 pieces

sliced matcha marble cake side view to show texture

The first option is pretty self explanatory. After you spread on the strawberry whipped cream, you can drizzle on more strawberry sauce and garnish with slices of fresh strawberries.

To make the mini cakes, start by slicing the (completely cooled) sheet cake into 9 square pieces. Then, use a circular cookie/pastry cutter to trim into circles. Save the cake scraps! See recipe notes at the bottom of the page for some ideas on how to use up the cake scraps.

Assembling the mini cakes is the fun part. It’s much easier and simpler than decorating cupcakes. Simply dollop a generous amount of strawberry coconut whipped cream on each cake, drizzle on some strawberry sauce, and garnish with slices of fresh strawberries. Serve your mini cakes on flattened pieces of paper muffin cups.

See notes at the bottom of the recipe card for storage instructions.

cutting a square piece of matcha marble cake into a circle using a pastry cutter

dolloping strawberry whipped cream on top of the mini shortcake

FAQs

Have a questions about this recipe? Leave a comment on this post or shoot me a DM on Instagram! I’d love to help you out. 🙂

Is this shortcake recipe really sweet?

The cake is not very sweet and neither is the strawberry coconut whipped cream! If you have a sweet tooth though, you can add more strawberry sauce to the whipped cream.

Where can I find coconut whipping cream?

I use the canned coconut whipping cream from Cha’s Organics (not sponsored), but other brands like Silk also has their own.

What grade of matcha powder should I use?

I would always recommend using culinary grade matcha for baked goods because it’s less expensive and doesn’t have the strong umami-esq tasting notes that ceremonial often matcha has. I would also recommend refrigerating your matcha powder in a darkened container or bag to preserve the bright green colour! Some of the colour will get lost when exposed to heat (when baked).