Toasted Pound Cake with Lemon Cream

March 20, 2018 by Nicole Collins

It's the first day of spring!!!

FINALLY!

Ok, so maybe I'm being a LITTLE dramatic. I have to admit, this winter has not been totally awful. It has certainly been rainy, and gloomy, and miserable. But, we've actually been blessed with some milder days over the past few weeks which made winter feel not so horribly long.

Except for this week, ironically enough. There's a BIG snowstorm in the forecast for today and tomorrow. How unfair, right? Did Mother Nature get her wires crossed or something?

Ugh...so, there's that. Isn't the warmth and sunshine supposed to be blessing us on a day like today?!?

On a separate note, the first day of spring means it's March 20. And, that means that it's only 12 more day until I can have chocolate again!

I definitely never realized how often I walk by my pantry and pop a piece of chocolate candy in my mouth. Or, I knew I needed salty/sweet combos at all times, but I guess I didn't realize that I finish every salty snacking session with a cookie or something chocolate.

Honestly, it hasn't really been that bad. I've been able to read chocolate recipes without feeling empty inside. I've been able to look at all of the candy bars at the check out line in the grocery store without feeling any disappointment.

I did, however, make this big plan about a week in to Lent to make macarons so that I could have some kind of dessert on hand. I bought a big pack of almond flour. I had a plan to experiment with dying the batter. And then, I realized macarons are cookies...which I can't have right now either.

Oops!

Thankfully, my sweet tooth hasn't been awful. But, it's been there. And, it's creeping up a little more and a little more every day.

So today, we're having a chocolate and cookie free; perfect for the first day of spring (under normal circumstances); almost, dare I say healthyish; light and fresh dessert!

That's right. It's Toasted Pound Cake with Lemon Cream for the win today!

This dessert seems fancy. And, if you want to tell your family, or friends, or house guests, or whomever you're feeding that it was super labor intensive, feel free. But, that will be a lie. Because, this dessert couldn't be any quicker or easier!

The base of our dessert is some store bought frozen pound cake. I love this stuff. You can keep it in the freezer, slice off a piece when you need something sweet, pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds, and you've got dessert.

But, we're going to make this pound cake even better by slapping some butter on it and toasting it up in a skillet. The cake gets a crunchy crust on the outside while still being soft and moist on the inside. It is everything.

That may not sound healthy. But, remember I said healthyish? We'll call the pound cake part the “ish”.

To top our pound cake, we're going to use some lemon cream, fresh blueberries, and chopped pistachios. Sweet, tangy, and salty all in one bite? You know that's how I like it.

The lemon cream is a really simple mix of plain greek yogurt, honey, and grated lemon peel. See, that's the healthy part!

This dessert is so refreshing. It's not overly sweet, but it's perfectly sweet enough. You've got a lot of different textures happening from the creamy yogurt, toasted cake, juicy blueberries, and crunchy nuts. This is the ULTIMATE “first day of spring” treat!

Really, it's the ultimate “every day of your life” treat.

And, I feel like technically, we could even make this breakfast. I mean yogurt, fruit, nuts...it's practically a breakfast parfait (on a piece of cake). Why not?

I can't even miss chocolate when there's something as delicious as this in my life. I'm telling you, this dessert might just be my new fav.

Please make this, like yesterday. Enjoy, and let's eat!

Toasted Pound Cake with Lemon Cream

Serves: 8 Print

Ingredients:

1 loaf frozen butter pound cake, thawed (I used Sarah Lee)
½ stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup plain greek yogurt
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp lemon zest (grated lemon peel)
½ cup blueberries
¼ shelled pistachios, chopped

Directions:

Make the Lemon Cream: In a mixing bowl, mix greek yogurt, honey, and lemon zest. Stir to combine. Set aside in the fridge.
Toast the Pound Cake: Slice pound cake in to 8 slices. Spread about a tsp of butter per side on each slice of pound cake. Heat a large non stick skillet over medium high heat. Arrange cake slices in the pan, and toast for 3-5 minutes until cake starts to lightly brown. Flip, and toast the other side for another 3-4 mins.
To serve, take one slice of toasted pound cake, and top with about 1 tbsp of lemon cream, 1 tbsp of blueberries, and ½ tbsp of chopped pistachios. Repeat with remaining cake slices.

Recipe notes:

*You don't have to make all 8 slices at once. The lemon cream can be stored in a container in the fridge for about a week. The pound cake can stay in the freezer, and it only takes 10 seconds to thaw one slice before toasting it. So, you can have a single serve dessert whenever you want (like I do!)

*You could definitely use fresh pound cake from the bakery. I just like the frozen pound cake because it's so easy to store for later.

*If you're not a fan of blueberries, this would be just as amazing with strawberries! Or better yet, both!

*1 tsp of lemon zest is the zest from about ½ of a lemon.