Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake is Kirby's slice of cake central to Kirby: Squeak Squad as a plot device. Kirby investigates its disappearance before he can eat it, and ends up traversing the whole of Pop Star and out into Gamble Galaxy before finally retrieving it.

At the start of Kirby: Squeak Squad, Kirby is relaxing, about to eat his Strawberry shortcake when it is stolen by an unidentified thief. Although he initially thinks the culprit was King Dedede, he later finds that the Squeaks were responsible. Kirby follows the Squeaks throughout most of Pop Star, before finally defeating their leader, Daroach. Just before he can open the chest that supposedly contains his Strawberry Shortcake though, Meta Knight appears from nowhere and snatches the chest. Kirby, infuriated, chases after Meta Knight to his secret base at Secret Sea. Once he defeats Meta Knight, Kirby opens the chest that he thought contained his Strawberry Shortcake, only to find out a great and powerful evil was hidden in it, which quickly escapes the Halberd, taking up refuge in a black hole it opened. Kirby manages to defeat Dark Nebula, although he never recovered his Strawberry Shortcake. After the credits of the game, the Squeaks return the shortcake as an apology for the trouble they caused.

After beating the game, the cake appears on the treasure screen as an icon. If selected, it shows a picture of the cake. It has no purpose otherwise, though, besides adding a treasure to Kirby's total.

Other Appearances
The Strawberry Shortcake has also played a role in other Kirby games, either appearing as a cameo or a type of consumable item. In Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble, it appears as a consumable item that restores five Vitality, and it makes an appearance in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards during a cutscene in which Kirby eats one. It also appears in Kirby's Return to Dream Land during the first cutscene. Kirby drops it when the Lor Starcutter enters Pop Stars atmosphere, and he is momentarily distracted by his ruined Strawberry Shortcake.

Trivia

 * The shadow moving quickly across the hills that snatches the shortcake greatly resembles a Waddle Dee.
 * If the player is inactive while Kirby is on the overworld map, he falls asleep after a while, dreaming about the shortcake. When Kirby inhales it in his sleep, he wakes up.
 * In Kirby's Dream Land 3, Ado draws pictures on her cloudy canvas if the player collects all the Heart Stars in Cloudy Park and defeats her. One of the pictures she draws is of a strawberry shortcake.
 * In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards in the cutscene of Rock Star, Kirby imagines when he is hungry that King Dedede is a Strawberry Shortcake. He also eats this at the picnic, but cannot finish before Dedede pulls him through a portal, causing him to drop the cake.
 * In the anime episode Mabel Turns the Tables, Samo offers the kids strawberry shortcake. It looks a lot like the one in the games.