I’ve always been fond of toasted pound cake, and the grill’s a natural for toasting. Smoke and sugar often work in mysterious and complementary ways—think of barbecue sauce and grilled chicken or crème brûlée. Here, they work their magic on whipped cream. If you think regular pound cake is good, just wait until you taste it hot off the grill.
There are two ways to make whipped cream smoke-scented. The first is to flavor the cream with a smoky single-malt scotch, such as Laphroaig (which owes its pungent smoke flavor to the peat fires that are used to roast the barley). Laphroaig isn’t cheap, but the stuff is so spectacular that everyone—grill jockey or not—should own a bottle. The other option is to flavor the whipped cream with a more commonplace whiskey, optionally adding a drop or two of liquid smoke for flavor. Be sparing with the liquid smoke—a little goes a long way.
