Fresh Fruit and Watermelon Cake
June 3, 2013 in Side Dishes
Of all the joyous food discoveries I have made on the world wide web lately – this has to be my favorite: Watermelon. In the shape of a cake. The presentation beats the heck out of chopped up fruit salad in a bowl!
If you want to impress folks at your next summer potluck, you must make this “cake.” I made this thinking of my co-blogger Anne. After all, she once did some catering under the name “Belly Laughs,” and loves food that makes you smile. As Exhibit “A” to prove my theory, I offer Anne’s Mammo-grahams. Case closed
I have been dying to try this idea since I saw it on Blogher a few weeks ago. All of us “ooohed” and “ahhhed” over it but we just couldn’t bear to cut up something this pretty, and so we just ate the bowl of scraps left over from making it. We decided to take it to a neighbor. Her text to me: “Are you kidding me? You are my kind of friend!”
I was worried that this “cake” would require a big investment in time and several boxes of toothpicks. Not so. There is only one toothpick in the entire “cake,” and that is to keep the jicama star on the very top in place. You could skip the star if you don’t have any toothpicks around. The rest of the fruit garnishes magically stick to the very sweet and wet watermelon. This took me about 20 minutes to put together from start to finish, and I will be taking this to every barbecue this summer. Easy. Fun. Real Fruit. What’s not to love about this?
Watermelon in Cake Form
You can watch a fun video on how to put together your own fresh fruit creation on You Tube, and check out all kinds of watermelon cakes.
Can you think of a better way to celebrate summer fruit? I can’t.
– posted by Donna
I just tried this and it came out perfectly! I even had to transport it to my work and it traveled great. I just wrapped it in plastic wrap and aside from a couple grapes and blueberries, everything stayed in place. The only downside was the water from the watermelon leaked in the car a bit. Received to rave reviews, I’ll definitely make again!
SO happy this worked for you!
If u don’t use anything to stick the fruit would I still be able to transport yhe cake without it falling apart or is it bettet to put it toghether once I get to my destination?
Hi Cinthya – If you are traveling with the “cake,” I would take it all in zip top bags and put it together where you will be serving it. You CAN use toothpicks to hold the fruit on, but I didn’t need them. Good luck!
Donna, what are the white shapes (stars and round disc at top) cut from? This is so beautiful! Can’t wait to put one together. Thank you for the inspiration!
Laura – JICAMA! It is perfect for this, because it won’t turn dark. You can use apples, but they will darken.
Do you think you could make this the night before, or would it get too liquidy?
I think this would be fine – I made it a few hours ahead and it was great!
This just makes me so happy. though, I must admit..I might try to smear some buttercream in-between the layers. What can I say…old habits die hard!
YOU are, of course, right – EVERYTHING is better with buttercream!
Now, that’s really fun! Must try this with my grandkids this summer.
You’re right, Lydia – this would be perfect to make with kids!!! Can’t wait until my darling Ruby (my only grandkid to live near me) gets old enough to cook with me!