The Easy Trader Joe's Shortcut For Perfect Strawberry Shortcake

If you're craving strawberry shortcake but are short on time, this hack from Trader Joe's is the perfect way to whip up this tasty summer dessert with only a few ingredients. With plenty of popular picks that fly off the shelves, Trader Joe's is the perfect place to get the ingredients needed to make a dessert from scratch or to make one that just tastes like it's made from scratch. Some of the best dishes come from hacks shared by customers and employees with new ways to use existing products. Fortunately, Trader Joe's is more than willing to share the details of their favorite hacks on the "Inside Trader Joe's" podcast.

The hack was shared by an employee at a Trader Joe's in Woodbury, Minnesota. The employee switched up the preparation of the Trader Joe's vanilla cake mix. There are plenty of great hacks for boxed cake mix, but this one includes a new idea to change the texture of the cake. The resulting brownie-style butter cake hack is the perfect shortcut to creating a strawberry shortcake base. After testing, the Trader Joe's staff noted that the hacked cake might even be better than the normal cake. Some assembly is required, but using Trader Joe's ready-to-use ingredients is another hack that will save time. This hack makes dense, chewy cake that's perfect for topping with ripe strawberries and cream.

Start by preparing the Trader Joe's vanilla cake mix according to the instructions on the back of the package with one change. Instead of mixing in milk, leave it out. Follow the rest of the instructions just like you would if making the cake like normal. The texture of the dessert is denser than the traditional cake. It is still chewy but has nice firm edges. The Trader Joe's staff that tested the hack and shared the results on the podcast compared it to a butter cake or brownie. 

Traditional strawberry shortcake calls for strawberries and whipped cream so this hack uses the same ingredients to create that iconic strawberry shortcake flavor. But instead of whipping fresh cream by hand, it calls for canned whipped cream. All you need to do is put it all together, adding in as many strawberries or as much whipped cream as you want. Top the hacked cake with the berries and cream, sprinkling a little sugar over the top to give it some extra flair. Slice the cake like you would a brownie and enjoy!