Strawberry Shortcake is a series that my daughters enjoy whenever we happen to catch an episode or three (usually courtesy of one of FOX’s episode bundle DVD releases). When the opportunity came to check out a new compilation of episodes titled “Berry Bake Shop”, we leaped at the chance. You see, my just turned six year-old daughter dreams of owning and running her very own bake shop when she grows up, so I thought this would be perfect for her.

This review is based off a Digital HD review copy. A DVD release, which also includes the digital copy and bonus “Berry Fun” Printable Recipes is available exclusively at Walmart.

Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Bake Shop contains three episodes from the third season of the Strawberry Shortcake’s Berry Bitty Adventures animated TV series:

• “Berry Lucky Day” – Season 3, Episode 10

  The adorable puppies (which were introduced at the beginning of the season) have run amok, and caused a lot of damage around town. The girls decide to build a dog park to try to contain the puppies and enlist the help of both the Huckleberry to help the Berrykins build it. Huckleberry reluctantly agrees to help them out but is too embarrassed to admit it that he is a terrible builder. However, when Huckleberry finds a lucky charm his confidence is boosted and seemingly so are his construction skills. Unfortunately the good luck charm actually belongs to Cherry, who lost it, and who is now unable to hit her high notes without it. Soon both Huckleberry and Cherry learn that it’s not the ‘good luck charm’ that is responsible for increasing their abilities, but rather patience, practice and confidence in themselves.

• “A Basket of Blue Berries” – Season 3, Episode 12

  When Blueberry invites Huckleberry to the masquerade ball, he agrees to go only if Blueberry doesn’t leave his side so that he doesn’t have to dance with anyone. However, just before the ball, Lemon and Raspberry hear that Blueberry has gotten sick and won’t be able to attend. Not wanting to let down Huckleberry, each independently (and unbeknownst to the other) disguise themselves as Blueberry. What neither of them know is that thanks to Strawberry’s tea, Blueberry gets better and goes to the ball. The presence of three Blueberries at the ball causes your typical comedic confusion, until everything is sorted out.

• “The Berry, Biggest, Berry Baddest Bakeoff” – Season 3, Episode 13

  This humorous episode starts with Berrykin Bloom growing a new fruit that’s a combination of watermelon, pineapple and strawberry. When the girls hear that Princess Berrykin will be having a ceremony to celebrate Berrykin Bloom’s achievement, they agree that they will each bake special cupcakes for him. Due to a series of comical misunderstandings, what starts out as baking normal sized cupcakes quickly becomes a competition with each girl trying to outdo each other with ginormous, ornate person-sized confections.

What’s Included:

Episodes:

• HDX – 1080p , HD – 720p, SD/DVD – 480p/Enhanced Widescreen
• Audio: English Dolby Digital Plus Stereo
• 3 episodes of the series (67 min)
• “Berry Lucky Day”, “A Basket of Blue Berries”, “The Berry, Biggest, Berry Baddest Bakeoff”
• English SDH, Spanish subtitles
• Closed Captioned

Digital Copy:

• DVD contains UltraViolet Digital Copy redeemable via Vudu or Flixster (Redemption Deadline 5/12/2018)

Extras:

• “Berry Fun” Printable Recipes (DVD Only)

Final Thoughts:

Originally I had planned to just watch these episodes with my younger daughter Claire (age 6), but they managed to quickly draw her older sister Emily’s (age 8.5) attention away from the iPad as well.

In the first episode, Claire delighted in seeing the puppies return from earlier in the season and started telling her sister that she HAS to watch those episodes too so she can see how the puppies showed up. She enjoyed the episode, but she kept wondering when the “bake shop” was going to appear as I had told her the name of the compilation before we started watching.

She enjoyed the second episode quite a bit as well, giggling at the multiple Blueberrys.

The third episode started and finally we had the much anticipated baking and ginormous cupcakes. Needless to say, this kid was in heaven and I could see her little mind cranking with dreams of baking (and more importantly…eating) kid-sized cupcakes of her very own.

Unlike previous compilations (especially the last one we reviewed, Berry Best In Show), these episodes seemed a little more disjointed and the common theme of the “Berry Bake Shop” was a bit less prominent throughout.

The picture quality was excellent and while the sound was only in stereo, it was nice and clear and the dialog was easy to hear.

Having just received the stand-alone Digital HD copy for review, unfortunately there were no extras, which disappointed the girls a little as they usually like to do the coloring pages and watch the music videos that often come on the DVD releases.

Overall Berry Bake Shop earned a blue ribbon in our house; anything that can steal my older daughter’s attention away from the iPad for even a few minutes is certainly a keeper. I suspect that those giant cupcakes will be making additional appearances on our TV screen sometime in the very near future.