Oh these sweet sweet days!
When the coals are hot, the hot dogs are pleasantly burnt, the beers are canned and cozied, and the cheeseburgers are a little too well done with too much cheese. With sunshine, it’s all perfect… we’re just hoping hoping to put these rainy New Orleans days to bed soon. These are grilling days, once the sunshine breaks through and we’ve got to live them all the way before they escape us.
This Strawberry Shortcake… (I’m a big fan, remember this Basil Cream Strawberry Shortcake?) uses a dense pound cake and the last of the grill’s heat to toast both cake and strawberries. Topped with sweet cream and served warm… this is us, living our best summer selves with cake lots of cake.
We’re going to start by making a pound cake.
Not just any pound cake, my absolute favorite pound cake.
A pound cake typically gets its name from the generous amount of butter inside. A pound. A whole dang pound!
This cake has aaaallllmost a pound of fat in it, but we’re dividing it between butter and rich cream cheese. Eggs, too! Lots of luscious eggs.
All of this glorious (I mean that) fat will bake up into a perfectly moist loaf that, even after baking and grilling, will be tender and soft. Thank you, fat! Thank you!
Butter and cream cheese is whipped to creamy with granulated sugar.
Creaming the mixture will aerate it, creating a light and fluffy pound cake texture. We’re not just mixing ingredients, we’re creating texture.
Eggs are important.They’ll add a richness to the batter and help the batter rise.
The eggs are beaten in, one at a time, for 1 minute each. Slow and steady to incorporate and aerate. Since we’re working with so much fat, we’re using the power of the mixer and the power of eggs to create lightness within the loaf.
Flour, salt, and leavening are folded into the batter making it thick, but still spoonable.
A 9×5-inch loaf pan is lined with Reynolds Wrap Nonstick Foil. We want to make sure that the moist and dense pound cake moves easily from the loaf pan, sliced, and to the grill without any hiccups.
This post is in partnership with Reynolds Endless Table. Be sure to check out their inspiring and unstoppable Instagram account!
While the cake bakes and rests, it’s time to sort the strawberries.
Fresh and sliced, tossed with granulated sugar to macerate.
Macerating berries in sugar helps draw the sweet juices from the fruit and softens the berries, helping make them downright irresistible when heated on a grill.
Baked to beautifully golden. Cooled to room temperature. We’ll chill the cake to cool, making it easier to slice and much easier to grill and hold its shape without breaking.
It’s my hope that you had the grill going for hot dogs and cheese burgers, and this pound cake is the grand finale.
Thick slices of pound cake are placed on a hot grill. Macerated strawberries are placed in Reynolds Foil Baking Cups and toasted alongside the pound cake. Cake slices are flipped using a thin spatula. Warmed and grill toasted. This is all so so good!
Gather right round!
All we need is sweetened whipped cream and we’re on our way to summer shortcake heaven!
The pound cake is buttery and dense. Dense, in the most alluring and tender way. Topped with sweet warmed strawberries and cool sweet cream. The best way to celebrate the last of these good good summer days, and the last heat of that bbq coals. Living out summer food lives all the way, all the way!
Grilled Strawberry Shortcake
- Author: Joy the Baker
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 55
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Ingredients
For the Pound Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 ½ sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the Strawberries
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
For the Cream
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- PREHEAT oven to 325 degrees F and place a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 9×5-inch baking pan with Reynolds Wrap® Non-Stick Foil and set aside.
- WHISK together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- CREAM together softened butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the bowl and make sure that the butter and cream cheese are evenly mixed. Add the sugar to the butter and cream cheese mixture, and beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.
- BEAT in one egg at a time, mixing for one minute after each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla extract.
- ADD dry ingredients all at once. Beat on low speed until dry ingredients are completely incorporated. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, rotating once or twice during baking. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, or with just a few crumbs. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature. I find the pound cake is easiest to work with when chilled through, so wrap the cooled cake and refrigerate for 4 hours, or overnight.
- SLICE the chilled pound cake into 8 thick slices.
- TOSS the strawberries together with the sugar in a small bowl. Allow to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.
- WHIP the heavy cream with powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Set aside.
- GRILL the slices on pound cake over a warm , greased, grill until golden brown grill marks appear on both sides of cake, flipping once.
- WARM the strawberries on the grill by spooning strawberries among 8 Jumbo Reynolds® Aluminum Foil Baking Cups and warming along side the pound cake.
- SERVE warm pound cake slices with warmed strawberries and sweet cream.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
Photos by Jon Melendez.
32 Responses
Great article, I will definitely be trying this as I am a great lover of strawberries!
Nice cake recipe
Looks delicious
Aw my god. Yes I do agrew with the above comment that grilled anything is better but with strawberry. Its really something I will be trying it for the first time. Thanks gor the share. As a strawberry lover I will definately try this at home.
Hi Joy! I usually follow along on your app but when I tap it has some weird pics of ants on grass. You can’t click through to any recipes either, any idea what’s up?
Looks like the app is down. I’ll look into it!
This sounds amazing!!!
Yum! What a perfect summer dish. Can I ask too, how do you manage to take such good photos while cooking? I’m trying to do the same but am finding it hard to focus – I feel like I can only cook, then I can only take photos. The two can’t coexist simultaneously… Would love to hear your advice Joy!
You were wondering why New Orleans didn’t have a Trader Joe’s. Well…
https://www.nola.com/living/index.ssf/2016/08/trader_joes_to_open_sept_23_in.html#incart_river_home
Enjoy!
That Instagram feed is on point.
This sounds like a great camp dessert but it would need to keep for a few days. I’ve never frozen shortcake before. Any thoughts on baking the loaf a few days ahead of time and sticking it in the freezer to keep?
This recipe is a dream! I’m a big fan of poundcake but I’ve never thought about grilling it. Definitely putting that on my to-do list!
Harry Bowden
Loved your stuff before this. Did your sponsor have to be in every picture? Kind of overkill. One link or tag would have been great. Makes me not want to read your stuff again.
Oh wow! Grilled cake?! Amazing. I moved from London to Sydney and learnt that Australian’s like to grill their banana bread. The way the sugars caramelise is incredible! Will be trying this one for sure x
Oh, my goodness, the grilled shortcake looks so good :)
What a neat idea to warm the strawberries in the cupcake liners! This way, everyone can assemble their own shortcake (while hopefully) leaving the person at the grill a little breathing room.
Grilled shortcake sounds lovely! Such a yummy summer treat!
This looks so good! I have to make it before summer is over!
Oh, this pound cake sounds heavenly. I love this take on strawberry shortcake- perfect for these last days of summer.
Grilled strawberry shortcake sounds delightful! I can’t wait to try this!
-Helen
http://www.sweethelengrace.com
Namaskara Joy – even thou I can not bake, I just might try this one here out – you make it sound fairly ……….easy!? :)
Beautiful photographs as always – you have a very good eye for things – one can learn a lot by just looking at your work. Ciao Carina
Why not peaches? Strawberries are out of season, go with what is available. Peaches grill great!
I guess it depends where you live. Strawberries are not our of season in California. Peaches sound good too
Agree!
Cannot wait to try this! Looks so yummy!
doodlesandbedtimestories.wordpress.com
Grilled!! Never thought of that in my life, looks great though!
https://www.flareaforte.com
I love strawberry shortcake, I’ve never thought about grilling it though! Will definitely give this a go! :)
theButter.co.uk
grilled pound cake sounds amazing! you get the tender inside and crispy outside (which i bet is perfect for soaking up strawberry juices).
This looks like it’s as close to shortcake perfection as it could possibly get. The fact that you grilled the shortcake is mind-blowingly brilliant
Wow these look amazing! I need to give these a go :)
Helen x
https://www.treasureeverymoment.co.uk/
See, I could never make a loaf like this as I would eat it all in one sitting!! ;)
https://vodkaandarose.blogspot.co.uk
Oh my. Grilled anything is better!