I like to add a touch of fancy to everything I do & dessert should be no exception!  Berries and ice cream are a favorite in my house, so you can imagine how quickly a mixed berry shortcake gets gobbled up!  The name is a bit deceiving.  Technically the recipe contains no shortcake and no whip cream, which are both traditional shortcake ingredients, but it’s close enough to a traditional shortcake for the name to suffice.  You can call it whatever you want 🙂

Start with 1/2″ to 1″ thick slices of your favorite pound cake.  I generally use a traditional pound cake recipe, but I just came across a recipe from http://simpleplate.net/honey-vanilla-pound-cake/ for a honey vanilla pound cake that I am dying to try!   If you’ve had a super busy week or are pulling together an impromptu dinner party, you can simply buy your favorite pound cake – no judgments!

Place a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top of the pound cake.  You can use plain vanilla if you would rather.  I just think the vanilla bean adds a special flavor combination.

Mix together about a 1/2 cup of fresh berries and a teaspoon of honey per serving.  Trust me on the honey – add it!  Give the berries a quick mix and if you have some time, let the berries marinate in the honey for an hour or two.  If you don’t have an extra hour or two, it will still be great.  I generally prefer a mix of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.  The raspberries at the store had seen better days, so I simply omitted from this go around.

Pour about a 1/2 cup of berry mixture on top of the ice cream.  And now for the touch of fancy – complete the dish with a festive sparkler!  I’ve made this for Memorial Day and the 4th of July.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.  Hopefully we all take a moment to reflect on why this is all possible!