Strawberry shortcake is a classic dessert, served up in a variety of forms. This timeless treat can be put together as a sweet biscuit-like cake, or as a fluffy white cake. Some adventurous foodies may even make it with glazed doughnuts as the base. But even with such a variety of options, the other two essentials — fresh strawberries and whipped cream — typically stay the same.

Well, not anymore. We’re putting a spin on this sweet by adding hard seltzer to the mix. Because strawberries are a porous fruit, they act like a sponge when liquid is introduced. By soaking them in seltzer, the berries suck up the flavor — and a bit of the alcohol. It makes for a truly unique treat.

This dessert can be made with any type of seltzer you’d like, offering plenty of creativity for flavor combinations. Another bonus? You can choose to utilize store-bought or homemade whipped cream, and the same goes for the cake as well. Either way, you’ll end up with a light, flavorful dessert with a bit of a buzz whether you’re prepping it for Valentine’s Day or just a sunny Tuesday afternoon.

Seltzer-spiked Strawberry Shortcake

Makes 4 shortcakes

Ingredients

For the strawberries:
10 fresh strawberries
1 12oz can hard seltzer (we used Suzie’s VeryBerry)

For the cake:

2/3 cup white sugar

1 1/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

2/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whipped cream (store-bought or homemade)

Directions

Clean the strawberries, remove the stems and cut them up into small chunks. Place all of the strawberries in a bowl and pour the whole can of seltzer overtop. Allow the strawberries to soak in the seltzer for at least six hours, or overnight.

To make the cake, start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the white sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine.

Mix in the two eggs, then the oil, and then the milk and vanilla extract.

Grease a large loaf pan and fill it with the prepared batter. Bake the cake for 20-22 minutes until golden brown and the top is fully set. Once the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and set it aside to cool completely.

To assemble the strawberry shortcakes, slice the cooled cake into thick slices. Drain the remaining liquid from the bowl of strawberries. Layer the cake with whipped cream and seltzer-spiked strawberries. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.