This vegan version of a strawberry shortcake is easy to assemble and requires very little active cooking time! It's made using coconut milk in place of the cream/milk and is really yummy. Even my milk-and-cream-loving boyfriend loved the coconut milk. And the coconut milk makes the shortcake taste buttery and amazing. It's a little more moist than normal shortcake, but it's wonderful!

The only thing to worry about when it comes to this strawberry shortcake recipe is that prep will take a little while - but if you start it the day before you want to put it in your face, you'll be fine! :D

Step 1: Ingredients:

Strawberries

1 pound strawberries
3 tablespoons sugar

Shortcake

2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 14 oz can low fat coconut milk

Coconut cream for topping

1 14 oz can full fat coconut milk
a few tablespoons of sugar

If you want a fancy coconut based whipped cream for the topping, check out this instructable!

Step 2: Prep Work!

There are two very important things you need to do before you get started:

Put the can of full fat coconut milk into the fridge to firm up.
Cut the tops off the strawberries and quarter them, and then mix them with three tablespoons of sugar. Cover them and put them in the fridge!

Do this the night before if you think about it - otherwise 3-4 hours in the fridge will be the minimum time to get the maximum amount of yummies out of this recipe.

Step 3: Prepare the Batter and Preheat the Oven!

Preheat your oven to 400 F.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and remaining two tablespoons of sugar. Then add in 1 1/2 cups of low fat coconut milk and mix together until just combined. Don't over mix it - be gentle. :D

Step 4: Bake!

Pour the shortcake batter into a lightly greased 8 inch square pan. Spread it out evenly and then pop it in the oven!

Bake it for 22-25 minutes, or until golden on the top. :)

Pop it out of the pan and let it cool for a few minutes on a wire rack.

Step 5: Serve!

Cut the shortcake into 6-8 pieces and then cut those in half lengthwise.

Pull the full fat coconut milk out of the fridge - don't shake it! Open it up and spoon the thick cream off the top and into a bowl. If you've got good coconut milk you should have about 3/4 can of thick cream! You can use the rest of the thinner milk to make something else.

Spoon a couple tablespoons of sugar into it and mix it lightly. Don't worry if it gets runny - it's still delicious!

Spoon some strawberries and their juice onto the bottom half of the short cake and top with the coconut cream. Then put the other half of the shortcake on top and spoon over more strawberries.

Enjoy! :D