This recipe for brown sugar fruit on the grill with grilled pound cake and angel food cake makes a gorgeous dessert board after grilling up some steaks for a backyard BBQ! A delicious assortment of grilled pineapple, grilled peaches and more… it’s one of my favorite summer desserts!
I partnered with HomeRight to show you just how easy it is to grill fruit using a charcoal grill and the new Electro-Torch! Hooray for grilling without lighter fluid!
While I love a hearty meal and rich dessert most times of the year, in the summer my food revolves around getting creative with my grilling! Don’t believe me? See my Asian Pork Burgers with Grilled Pineapple or my Grilled Shrimp Pizza.
So it made complete sense to combine the two and the result was better than we imagined! Bonus points because it’s so pretty that it can double as a centerpiece for your table or Fourth of July picnic!
While this does take some time on the prep end of things, it’s nice to have a dessert that’s ready to go and completely hands-off while your guests are there. You don’t need to worry about cutting anything, assembling anything or even serving it up on individual plates.
Just let them serve themselves and enjoy your time to relax!
And to help you get to that relaxing point faster, there are a couple tips for how you can speed up the time involved:
- Light your charcoal grill quickly and safely using an Electro-Torch.
- Save time in the kitchen by using the same “marinade” for more than one fruit.
- Use my tips for how to build a gorgeous dessert board!
How to Start a Charcoal Grill
If you’re trying to get away from your food tasting like chemicals (every one of you should be raising your hands right now!), then the Electro-Torch is for you! Lighting a charcoal grill without lighter fluid is so easy that it will have you asking why you didn’t start using an Electro-Torch sooner!
Fill your grill with lump charcoal, plug in your Electro-Torch and you’re ready to get started! All you have to do is press the heat button and touched the Electro-Torch to the charcoal (don’t bury it, just touch it on top). It will start heating up in about 30 seconds and you will start seeing sparks as it lights the charcoal.
A couple tips here, be sure to press the red toggle switch forward (towards the charcoal) to heat it up and light the charcoal. If you press the red toggle switch backwards (towards your body) that is the fan function. Still a useful function, but it’s to fan the flames not to start the flames. Ask my husband how we know the difference between these two settings…
Bonus points go to the Electro-Torch because in addition to the grill, you can also use it for a firepit, a wood-burning fireplace and a smoker!
Be sure to visit the HomeRight blog for even more ideas for how to use the Electro-Torch!
How to Cook Fruit on the Grill
The basic thing you need to remember when grilling fruit is to coat it with something so that it won’t stick to the grill rack. You can go very basic with a light brush of olive oil or melted butter. Just use a pastry brush to coat each side that will touch the grill rack.
I prefer to add a little brown sugar to my melted butter, though, because BROWN SUGAR!! I’m convinced it just makes everything better! But especially when you use brown sugar to grill fruit, it gives it a nice caramelized finish that is amazing – almost as good as real caramel!
I melt 1 stick of butter, added 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Stir it all together and then use a pastry brush to coat each side of the fruit. You can also just use a spoon to spoon it over if it’s a little too thick for the brush.
Place your fruit on the heated grill and grill for about 3-4 minutes on each side. Take care when you’re flipping the fruit because it gets really tender and juicy and you don’t want to smash it with any aggressive tong usage.
For this type of fruit “charcuterie” board, I like to cut my pineapple into spears and grill peach halves. It just looks more impressive on the dessert board. It also makes it easier to flip on the grill.
If you prefer more bite-size pieces, cut your fruit into 1″ pieces and then make fruit kebabs! You can use these grill-safe kebab skewers, thread your fruit on and then brush the whole fruit kebab with the butter brown sugar mixture before grilling. I would personally take them off the kebab before assembling your fruit tray, but that’s just personal preference.
Grilled Pound Cake and Angel Food Cake
I took the easy way out and used a store-bought pound cake and angel food cake. The whole point of this dessert idea is to make it as easy as possible on the host. For me that means an easy to light grill, the easiest marinade every and store-bought cakes!
I cut the pound cake and angel food cake into slices and brushed melted butter onto both sides. It helps it not stick to the grill rack and gives it an amazing flavor!
I pretty much used exactly one stick of butter between both cakes, so just be sure to only use half a stick if you only use one type of cake.
Place your cake slices on the pre-heated grill (I did these last after the fruit was done). Grill the pound cake and angel food cake for about 2-3 minutes per side or until it’s nice and golden.
How to Build a Fruit Dessert Board
The beauty of serving a fruit board at your party is that you can really customize it any way you like! Pay attention to what’s on sale and what your favorite flavor pairings are and you have endless combination possibilities!
I like to have some kind of condiment in small boards to almost center the fruit and cake around. For this board, I chose small bowls of whipped cream. You could also use a fruit dip if you wanted. Place your bowls on the cutting board.
Next I add the largest items which for this board is the grilled pound cake and angel food cake. It’s easiest to add these large pieces of cake now when you have the most open space on your cutting board or tray.
After you have them arranged, add the largest fruit. In this case, the grilled pineapple spears and grilled peach halves are my largest fruit. I added the pineapple in the next largest open spots. I tried to make sure I added it in more than one spots to spread the color out.
Then I fit the peach halves in scattered around the board. It’s almost like assembling a bouquet of flowers… you want to make sure your colors are spread out throughout the board and not just clumped in one spot.
And last, I came in and added some fresh fruit! I love the combination of the grilled fruit with the fresh fruit! Plus, the strawberries and blueberries add a perfect pop of color and make it the best 4th of July dessert I can think of! I try to scatter the blueberries and strawberries all over the board for pops of color everywhere.
You can even grill your fruit and pound cake the day before your 4th of July BBQ and then just assemble everything before your guests arrive! A completely stress-free and easy dessert so you can focus on hanging out with friends and family!
The perfect summer dessert tray filled with grilled pineapple, peaches, pound cake, angel food cake and fresh strawberries and blueberries! It's so easy to make fruit on the grill but tastes amazing and looks impressive at picnics and BBQs! The easiest way to start your charcoal grill is to use a HomeRight Electro-Torch! It heats up in less than a minute and works great to grill food without having to use lighter fluid.Grilled Fruit and Pound Cake
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16
Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 278Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 45mgSodium: 194mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 2gSugar: 21gProtein: 2g 
