This recipe is taken directly from Taste of Home‘s Test Kitchen — the Grilled Pound Cake with Berries recipe published on tasteofhome.com. It’s a short, six-serving recipe built around store-bought or homemade pound cake, so it works as a quick dessert to tack onto a cookout without lighting a second fire or firing up an oven.
The idea is simple: butter goes on both sides of pre-sliced pound cake, and the slices pick up a light char over indirect heat while a fresh berry mixture and a lemon whipped cream come together on the side. Taste of Home’s own note on the recipe sums up the appeal — “the toasty flavor of lightly grilled pound cake makes it the perfect accompaniment for summertime berries.”
Ingredients
- 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 5 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh mint
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 6 slices pound cake, about 1 inch thick
Method
Making the Berry Mixture
In a large bowl, combine the strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the mint. Set the mixture aside so the berries have time to release some juice while you prepare the rest.
Whipping the Lemon Cream
In a small bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until it begins to thicken. Beat in the remaining sugar, then add the lemon juice and zest and beat until soft peaks form. Cover and refrigerate the whipped cream until you’re ready to serve.
Grilling the Cake
Spread the softened butter over both sides of the pound cake slices. Grill them uncovered over indirect medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until light golden brown. Serve the warm slices with the berry mixture and the lemon whipped cream.
Timing and Serving Size
Taste of Home lists this as a 25-minute recipe in total — about 20 minutes of prep and 5 minutes of actual grill time — and it yields 6 servings, one slice of cake per person topped with berries and cream. Per the recipe’s own nutrition figures, one serving comes to 377 calories, 27g fat, 136mg cholesterol, 193mg sodium, 34g carbohydrate and 3g protein.
A Few Practical Notes
Because the cake only needs a minute or two per side over indirect heat, it’s easy to scorch if your grill is running hotter than expected — keep a close eye on the slices rather than walking away, since the sugar in the crust browns fast once it starts. If you’re already grilling something else over direct heat, the indirect side is usually free for the last few minutes of that cook, which makes this an easy dessert to fit in right at the end of a cookout rather than a separate production.
The recipe calls for fresh berries specifically, so give them a rinse before slicing and hulling the strawberries — the berry mixture sits out at room temperature while the cake grills, so it’s worth keeping that window short if you’re cooking on a warm day.
Getting the Timing Right
Both the berry mixture and the lemon whipped cream are built to hold: the recipe has you set the macerating berries aside while the cream is prepared, then refrigerate the finished cream until serving, so both components can realistically be made before you even light the grill. That leaves the grilling step — the fastest part of the recipe at just a few minutes total — for right before you plate, so the cake reaches the table warm while the cream is still cold.
Since the recipe only calls for indirect medium heat and a short grill time, this is also one of the easier desserts to fit onto a grill that’s already got something else going. On a two-zone charcoal or gas setup, the indirect side is simply the area without coals or an unlit burner underneath — keep the cake slices there rather than over direct flame so they toast instead of scorching in the minute or two the recipe calls for.
Serving It
Because the recipe is written for 6 servings of one cake slice each, it scales easily if you’re topping off a smaller cookout — halve the berry and cream quantities for 3 servings, or grill extra slices of cake to stretch the same batch of topping further if you’re feeding a bigger group. Either way, plate the cake first, spoon the berry mixture over it while both are still warm and cold respectively, and finish with a dollop of the lemon whipped cream so it doesn’t melt into the berries before serving.
Keep reading
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- Grilled Peaches with Blackberry Sauce (Weber Recipe)
- Grilled Bananas Foster: Grill Girl’s Rum Caramel Recipe