Dolly Parton Strawberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars

These easy Dolly Parton Strawberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars combine sweet strawberry cake with a creamy, tangy lemon cheesecake layer.

Some recipes are carefully planned from beginning to end. Others happen because it's late at night, you're baking your way through a stack of Dolly Parton cake mixes, you have exactly one egg left, and there are fresh strawberries in the refrigerator that need to be used. These Dolly Parton Strawberry Lemonade Bars definitely fall into that second category.

They start with Dolly Parton's Strawberry Cake Mix, which I turned into a buttery strawberry cake-mix crust. On top of that goes a thick, cool, creamy lemon layer made with cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, fresh lemon juice and zest, and a little instant lemon pudding. Strawberry pie filling and fresh berries finish everything off. The result is part dessert bar, part creamy refrigerator dessert, and part strawberry lemonade.

And I'm already predicting that these aren't going to be dainty little bars you pick up with your fingers. They're thick, creamy, fruity, and substantial. Put one on a plate and hand me a fork.

A Hot Summer Day at Dollywood

A couple summers ago, my family visited Dollywood in the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, and one thing I remember very clearly is that it was hot. Blazing hot. We had a wonderful time, but it was the kind of summer heat that makes anything cold and refreshing sound especially good.

Maybe that's why I like the idea of a chilled strawberry lemonade dessert for this particular Dolly recipe. These bars are meant to be served straight from the refrigerator, with plenty of fresh strawberry flavor and enough tart lemon to balance all that sweetness. I can't help thinking one of these would have tasted awfully good on that hot day at Dollywood.

Of course, the Dolly connection starts with the cake mix itself. I'm currently baking my way through Dolly Parton's cake mixes and experimenting with ways to turn them into something completely different from the cakes pictured on the boxes. The more I work with these mixes, the more I'm learning about them, and Dolly's strawberry mix has been one of my favorites so far.

I've noticed that several of Dolly's fruit-flavored mixes have a softer color and flavor than many traditional cake mixes I've used. Her strawberry mix is a lovely example. Instead of being aggressively pink or overwhelmingly artificial in flavor, it's surprisingly subtle. That's especially useful in this recipe because the cake mix doesn't have to carry the strawberry flavor all by itself. We're building strawberry flavor into this dessert in several different ways.

Strawberry, Lemon, and a Very Happy Accident

I already have Strawberry Cheesecake Bars on this site, so I didn't want to make another version of essentially the same dessert and give it Dolly's name. As this recipe came together, however, I realized I wasn't really making traditional cheesecake bars anyway.

The filling started with ingredients I know and love: cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. I had a block and a half of cream cheese, and rather than leave half a block sitting in the refrigerator, I used all of it. I also decided to use the whole can of sweetened condensed milk. Then I started thinking about how much sweetness I had going on between the strawberry cake mix, condensed milk, strawberry pie filling, and fresh berries.

It needed lemon.

Not a token teaspoon or two, either. I added the juice and zest of two lemons, then stirred in two tablespoons of instant lemon pudding mix. That little bit of pudding turned out to be an important addition. It intensified the lemon flavor while giving the filling more body. What I ended up with was thick, creamy, luscious, and distinctly lemony—somewhere between a cheesecake filling and a creamy lemon pudding.

That's when I stopped thinking of these as Strawberry Cheesecake Bars.

They're Strawberry Lemonade Bars.

Three Kinds of Strawberry

One of the things I especially like about this dessert is that strawberry shows up in three different ways. Dolly's strawberry cake mix gives us a soft strawberry base. Strawberry pie filling adds a concentrated, glossy layer of fruit. Then fresh strawberries go over the top, bringing a completely different flavor and texture.

I decided to roughly chop the berries in the canned pie filling before spreading it over the lemon layer. I don't want enormous slippery berries making the finished bars difficult to cut. I want a fairly even layer of strawberry filling, followed by plenty of fresh berries.

For those fresh strawberries, I tossed them with about two tablespoons of powdered sugar. They'll release some juice as they sit, which is perfectly fine. I'll use the berries themselves over the bars without necessarily pouring every bit of accumulated juice over the top.

The end result should give us strawberry underneath, bright lemon cream in the middle, and two different kinds of strawberry on top. If this tastes tomorrow the way I think it's going to taste, we may have stumbled onto something really special.

Ingredients

You will find a full printable recipe card at the bottom of this post but here's a peek at what you're going to need. These are simple ingredients you should be able to find at your local grocery store. If they don't happen to carry Dolly Parton brand cake mixes, just choose a brand you trust.

For the Strawberry Cake-Mix Base

• 1 box Dolly Parton Strawberry Cake Mix
• ½ cup butter, partially melted
• 1 large egg

For the Creamy Lemon Layer

• 12 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk (13–14 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons instant lemon pudding mix
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Zest of 2 lemons

For the Strawberry Topping

• 1 can strawberry pie filling
• Fresh strawberries, cleaned and sliced
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

You'll find a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to Make Dolly Parton Strawberry Lemonade Bars

Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare a 9x13-inch baking dish. If you'd like to lift the entire chilled dessert out before slicing, line the pan with parchment paper, leaving enough overhang on the sides to use as handles.

Combine the Dolly Parton strawberry cake mix, partially melted butter, and egg. The mixture will be very thick, more like a soft dough than cake batter. Press it evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake the strawberry base for 18–20 minutes, or until it's completely set through the center. I baked mine for 20 minutes, though I suspected when I pulled it from the oven that 18 might have been enough. I'll know for certain after the bars have chilled overnight and I see how the crust cuts and tastes. Because this layer doesn't return to the oven, however, you do want to make sure it's fully baked.

Set the pan aside and allow the strawberry base to cool completely before assembling the dessert.

While the base cools, prepare the lemon filling. Beat the softened cream cheese until smooth, then gradually add the sweetened condensed milk. Once the mixture is creamy, add the instant lemon pudding along with the juice and zest of two lemons. Continue mixing until the filling is smooth, thick, and luscious. Refrigerate it while the strawberry base finishes cooling.

Roughly chop the berries in the canned strawberry pie filling so they'll be easier to spread and the finished dessert will be easier to slice. Clean and slice the fresh strawberries, then gently toss them with two tablespoons of powdered sugar.

Once the strawberry base is completely cool, spread the chilled lemon filling evenly over it. Follow with a relatively thin layer of the chopped strawberry pie filling. You may or may not need the entire can; I don't want so much pie filling that the bars become soupy or difficult to cut. Finish with the fresh strawberries.

Cover the pan and refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight. These bars need that refrigerator time for the creamy filling to firm and the layers to settle together.

A Strawberry Lemonade Dessert Made for a Fork

I'm writing this before I've had the chance to cut the finished bars, but I can already tell they're going to be quite different from the Strawberry Cheesecake Bars I already have on the site. Those are thinner and more traditionally cheesecake-like. These should be taller, lighter, creamier, and much more fruit-forward.

And they might require a fork.

Actually, I'm hoping they do.

I don't need these to be another grab-and-go cookie bar. I want a thick square of cold strawberry-lemon dessert sitting on a plate, with that pink cake-mix base showing underneath a generous pale lemon layer and bright red berries piled on top. I think the layers are going to be beautiful once they're sliced.

Why Use Strawberry Pie Filling and Fresh Strawberries?

The two ingredients bring completely different things to the dessert. Strawberry pie filling is sweet, concentrated, and glossy. Fresh strawberries are brighter, fresher, and slightly tart. Using both should give us a much more interesting strawberry flavor than either one could provide on its own.

The lemon filling also becomes especially important here because we've got quite a bit of sweetness happening above and below it. Fresh lemon juice and zest provide the acidity needed to keep the whole dessert from becoming cloying.

It's really the combination of strawberry + lemon + cold creamy filling that makes me comfortable calling these Strawberry Lemonade Bars instead of simply Strawberry Cream Cheese Bars.

Can I Make These Ahead?

You not only can; I think you should. This is exactly the sort of refrigerator dessert that benefits from being made the night before. The lemon filling needs time to become thoroughly chilled and firm, and the entire dessert needs time to settle before slicing.

Keep the bars covered and refrigerated until you're ready to serve them. Because of the cream cheese filling and fresh fruit, leftovers should also be stored in the refrigerator.

And honestly, cold is the whole point. These are supposed to be the kind of dessert you want when it's blazing hot outside and you open the refrigerator looking for something sweet and refreshing.

More Strawberry Lemonade Recipes

Apparently I have developed quite the strawberry lemonade collection over the years. You'll find Strawberry Lemonade Icebox Cake, Strawberry Lemonade Crinkle Cookies, Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake, Strawberry Lemonade Pastry Puffs, and more here on the site.

These bars give me something different to add to that collection. They're not a cake, cookie, or pastry. They're a cold, creamy plated dessert with a soft strawberry base, tart lemon filling, and plenty of berries.

And this time, Dolly is leading the way.

More Dolly Parton Recipes

These Strawberry Lemonade Bars are also part of my growing collection of Dolly Parton-inspired recipes. I'm not simply preparing Dolly's cake mixes according to the package directions. I'm experimenting with them, reviewing them as I go, and discovering how many completely different desserts I can create from them. Here are the ones I've made so far.

• Dollywood Cinnamon Bread (Copycat Recipe)
• Dolly Parton Banana Bread
• Dolly Parton Banana Bread Cookies
• Dolly Parton Pineapple Coconut Cake
• Dolly Parton Coconut Cookies with Lemon Glaze
• Dolly Parton Apples & Bananas Dump Cake
• Dolly Parton Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies with Nutella
• Dolly Parton Gooey Butter Bars
• Dolly Parton Mississippi Mud Cake
• Strawberry Pound Cake
• Dolly Parton Sock It to Me Cake
• Dolly Parton Snickerdoodle Cake (coming soon)
• Dolly Parton Pecan Pie Brownies (coming soon)

The fun part is that none of these desserts is turning out quite like the one before it. The same Dolly cake mixes are becoming cookies, pound cakes, Bundt cakes, bars, and all sorts of other things.

Which is exactly what I hoped would happen when I started this project.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes limitations in the kitchen lead to the best ideas. Tonight I had one egg left. I had fresh strawberries that needed to be used. I had a box of Dolly Parton's strawberry cake mix, cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemons, and a box of lemon pudding.

So I started putting things together.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped trying to make another Strawberry Cheesecake Bar and realized I was making something else entirely.

A buttery strawberry base. A cool, creamy lemon filling. Strawberry pie filling. Fresh berries.

Dolly Parton Strawberry Lemonade Bars.

Tomorrow I'll cut into them and find out whether the crust needs 18 minutes instead of 20, whether the filling sets as beautifully as I'm expecting, and whether these things really do require a plate and fork.

But tonight they're chilling in the refrigerator, right where they belong.

And after remembering just how blazing hot it was when we visited Dollywood?

A cold strawberry lemonade dessert sounds pretty darn good. 🍓🍋

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