Ayesha Curry Has a Genius Trick for Making Dessert in Under 10 Minutes

If you’re not already paying attention to Ayesha Curry’s culinary career, it’s time to listen up. The mother of four and wife to NBA player Stephen Curry has been forging her path in the food world for over a decade — publishing two cookbooks and starring in her own Food Network television series, Ayesha’s Homemade. She even hosted a season of The Great American Baking Show.

The recipes that Curry creates are always packed full of flavor — which she attributes to her childhood memories, telling Food & Wine that “I grew up in a Jamaican household and so everything was a little spicy, a little sweet, [a] super flavor bomb, and I love that.” But her cooking is also accessible, with her most recent cookbook, The Full Plate: Flavor-Filled, Easy Recipes for Families with No Time and a Lot to Do, focusing on dishes that can be prepared in under an hour.

Because of her dedication to flavor and convenience, it’s no surprise that Curry teamed up with meal delivery service Home Chef to bring her favorite recipes to households everywhere. Food & Wine sat down with Curry to talk about everything from her new partnership to her weekly home cooking strategies — and we learned one genius idea that will make your life a little sweeter.

Related: 17 of Our Best Quick Desserts

When we asked Ayesha what her go-to sweet treat is, she had a suggestion everyone can easily enjoy at home, saying “I always keep some heavy cream around so I can make a quick whipped cream and then I'll keep a store-bought pound cake [on hand]...

“We don't have dessert every night during the weeknights, but when we do, it's nice to just grab the pound cake, slice it up, I toast it off in a pan a little bit with butter. Then I'll chop up some strawberries and add a tiny bit of sugar, a tiny bit of citrus and some mint, and then you have a quick dessert that's delicious and nobody's not gonna like it.”

If toasting pound cake and making whipped cream sounds like too much effort, don’t worry, it’s simpler than it sounds. You can make whipped cream without a mixer or whisk, simply by using a mason jar or other tightly sealed container. Heavy cream will last in the fridge for a few weeks, roughly up to a month after you open it, so you don’t need to buy a new carton every week to be able to do this. (If you’re concerned that your cream may have gone bad, give it a sniff — a sour smell, any visible curdling, or a change in color will indicate that it’s turned.)

Keeping a pound cake in your kitchen is even easier. Common store-bought brands, such as Entenmann’s Butter Loaf Cake or Sara Lee Classic Pound Cake, will last for several weeks, possibly months, if left unopened — just use the best-by date as a guide. You can also freeze individual slices of pound cake in Ziploc bags, then thaw them in the fridge on the day you want to use them (although this does take a bit more planning ahead).

Because you’ll be toasting slices of these pound cakes in butter, it’s completely fine to use a generic brand; they’ll still become golden brown and supremely delicious. You could also use any similar baked goods that you have lying around, especially if they’re close to becoming stale. For example, a blueberry muffin split in half and toasted in butter would turn into an excellent dessert with whipped cream on top.

If you don’t have strawberries, citrus, or mint, you could certainly make this dessert without them. This is another moment where you can leverage the ingredients you do have available. Strawberries can easily be substituted with peaches, blueberries, mango, or other fruit — the only one we don't recommend is raw apple.

Mixed, frozen berries would work well for this and are more convenient. Simply microwave a handful of them, and the juices released as they thaw will soak into the buttery pound cake when spooned on top.

Related: Stanley Tucci Has a Genius Tip for Buttering Corn

If you’re opting to add the citrus and mint, it’s best to toss your fresh fruit with both of them in a small bowl, alongside the sugar. This will coat the fruit in the sweet, tart, and herbal flavors, and help the produce macerate before serving. Want to take it up a notch even further? Finely grate some of the citrus zest over everything to finish.

From there you’re ready to live your life like Ayesha Curry, with a sweet treat that feels fancy but can be ready at a moment’s notice. (And if you have kids, I feel confident they’ll appreciate having more dessert options on hand.)

Read the original article on Food & Wine