Grilled Strawberry Shortcake

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! 

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Photos by Jon Melendez.