It arrived in my email inbox like some sort of unexpected prize. The subject line: “Watermelon cake.” The body of the email: Just a simple, unassuming link. The sender: my wife.
She came across the link on her daily visit to Pinterest and, of course, she knows I love watermelon. When I clicked on the link, I was expecting to see a beautifully decorated cake made to look like a watermelon. But what really popped up on the other side of that line of blue text was something much more fascinating. It was an actual piece of watermelon flesh, carved into a round shape and frosted with icing!
I knew immediately that I had to make it. Not next month, not next week. I had to make my very own watermelon cake NOW. (I actually made it two days later, but that’s the equivalent of “now” when you’re an overworked parent.)
At the top of this entry is a slice of my creation. Here’s how it came together:
Start with a watermelon, the size of which is determined by the size of the cake you’re hoping to create. Before cutting your watermelon, wash it with warm, soapy water then rinse well. A thorough cleaning will get rid of any dirt on the rind, which is good because nobody wants a dirty watermelon cake.
Next, cut off the ends of the watermelon, leaving only the center portion. This center portion, when stood on end, should be about 4-6 inches tall.
Trim the rind away from the sides of your watermelon section, leaving only a single, cylindrical piece of watermelon. It’s starting to look like a cake already!
Now all that’s left to do is apply the icing. But which icing should you use? Since watermelon is naturally sweet, I opted for a lighter whipped frosting that wouldn’t overpower the taste of the watermelon. After frosting the cake, feel free to decorate it with whatever cake decorations you’d like. I used just a thin ring of green frosting around the top.
I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of taste, but the watermelon cake was actually pretty good! The only catch to this creation is that watermelon’s natural moisture means the icing might slide off after a little while. For this reason, you should ice the watermelon cake very shortly before serving it, or maybe consider icing only the top of it.
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