CAKE Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup

I'm pretty sure that everyone loves grilled cheese sandwiches dipped in tomato soup.

But ... for dessert?

Yes! This grilled cheese sandwich and soup are 100% sweet! It's so convincing, that it's a little weird to eat. But once you get past it masquerading as a main meal, it's an amazingly delicious dessert!

This dessert is broken down into several components. Pound cake, modeling chocolate, strawberry sauce, and toppings for your "soup". You can definitely buy a loaf of pound cake and modeling chocolate - but I'll also explain how I made mine. Also, you'll want to make the pound cake and the modeling chocolate at least 24 hours before you use them!

Pound Cake:

2 cups butter, softened (plus about 1/2c. extra for toasting later)

3 cups white sugar

6 eggs

4 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla *optional

Modeling Chocolate:

12oz white chocolate

1/2 cup clear corn syrup

Gel food dye (red and yellow)

Berry Soup:

Strawberries and/or raspberries (depending on how much soup you want - I'd suggest 4oz berries per sandwich)

Enough Confectioners sugar to sweeten your berries

Gel food dye *optional - if you want your soup more "tomato" colored

Soup Topping suggestions:

Heavy whipped cream mixed with enough milk to thin it (for sour cream)

Mint

Lime Zest

Pound cake croutons (shown later)

**You will also need**

- Parchment paper

- Rolling pin

- food processor/blender

Oil two 9"x5" loaf pans. Line them with parchment (leaving some overhang), and lightly oil the parchment. Preheat your oven to 350°F

Cream together your butter and sugar. Then, add in your eggs one at a time. Add vanilla (if using it)

Once that's combined, add in about 1/3 of your flour - followed by 1/3 of your milk, then more milk, more flour, etc.

Just mix until everything is combined - do not overmix!

Gently spoon the mixture into the two loaf pans.

Bake these for about 70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Once these are out of the oven, run a knife along the sides of the pan to loosen the cake. Let these rest for 10 minutes. After resting, use the parchment to carefully lift the cakes. Remove the parchment and set them on a cooling rack. Let cool completely.

Melt your chocolate and corn syrup together in a double boiler. Once completely combined, slowly add your yellow and red gel food dye until you get a nice "cheesy" color. This color doesn't change as the mixture cools.

Once your chocolate is appropriately cheesy, transfer the mixture to a different bowl. Cover and let set for 24 hours.

Cheese: Knead your modeling chocolate until it's pliable. Place part of it between two pieces of parchment paper, and roll it to 1/8" thick. Cut a square(s) from your rolled chocolate. Place the square onto a piece of parchment. Add another layer of parchment on top, then another square of chocolate. I usually made two squares, then moved them to the fridge. Made two more, moved them, etc, until finished. If your chocolate gets too soft to work with, you'll need to let it cool down some before proceeding.

While those harden, slice your pound cake! Cut your loaf into 1/2" slices. If it's too crumbly, put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. This will help it stay together better when cut.

Croutons: With some of the smaller end slices of the pound cake, we're going to make croutons for the soup. Cut your cake into cubes. Drizzle on some melted butter, gently mix to coat, and spread on a cookie sheet. Toast these at 375°, turning occasionally to allow even browning.

For your soup, clean your berries, cut the tops if using strawberries, and add them to a food processor or blender. Add enough confectioners sugar to sweeten the mixture to your liking. I added about 3 tbsp for 1 lb of strawberries.

Blend until smooth. Now is when you can add some food dye to make it look more tomato-like. I added yellow, a bit of red, and the tiniest speck of blue. I also added a tiny bit of whipped cream to give it some body. Make sure to start out with a small amount of everything and add as needed - this changes color quickly! Now, strain your mixture to get all the seeds out. If you want thinner soup, you can add some water.

To make the "sour cream" I combined extra heavy whipped topping with just enough milk to make it behave more like sour cream. You can just dollop this into your soup - or you can get fancy and use a plastic squirt bottle.

Gather your bread, cheese, softened butter, and have a place ready to put the finished sandwiches. I'd suggest letting them cool on parchment or waxed paper - the melted chocolate sort of stuck to my cutting board

It's important to have everything ready to use for this step - it makes things go much smoother!

You make these just like you would a regular grilled cheese sandwich - making sure to stagger the "cheese" for that nice dripping effect.

Cut your sandwich, get a little bowl for your soup, swirl on some whipped cream, and add a few croutons! Garnish with some chopped mint or lime zest if you're feeling extra fancy.