Grilled Pound Cake with Strawberry Rhubarb Basil Compote

For the love of summer, please don't let strawberry season pass you by. Especially when they are at their peak and the whole berries are red from top to bottom bursting with sweet sun ripen flavor. The season is short-lived, so if you don't enjoy these seasonal bursts of natural flavor now you'll have to wait until next summer to appreciate what they taste like. And that would be such a shame. Strawberries are perfect to eat as a snack, but sometimes they are nice to enjoy as a dessert too. Strawberry rhubarb is best known as a pie filling but today I am sharing with you a recipe that uses them for compote. Compote is fruit cooked in simple sugar syrup, then seasoned with spices or a little bit of acidic fruit like lemon. It is used as a dessert component and compliments everything from pancakes to ice cream sundaes.

In this recipe, I'm adding a little bit of basil, which pairs surprisingly well with strawberries.  I know it sounds weird, but trust me - it's really good.  In fact, you will often see strawberries and basil paired in many fine restaurants on their dessert menus.

Making compote is easy and is great as a component to the dessert I want to share with you. Using store-bought pound cake we are essentially making shortcake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Without the added step of having to make the pound cake, this dessert can be pulled together rather quickly and is visually appealing impressing everyone who eats it. You will need a grill or grill pan to prepare the cake to get those nice grill marks. Then, top each slice of cake with vanilla ice cream and the compote and you have yourself a very simple dessert that looks very fancy.  When you serve this to dinner guests at your next party they will think you spent all day putting it together.  Enjoy the accolades, you've earned them! Enjoy!