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Looking for a fun and healthy alternative to a birthday cake? Then look no further, check out this great tutorial from Ebony Malcolm, author of Neat 2 Eat – Everyday Lunchbox Recipes & Fun with Food, on how to make cakes out of fresh fruit!
Fresh fruit cakes are a fun emerging food trend and are great for kids who are egg free, dairy free, gluten free, nut free or any other type of allergy/intolerance which makes them great for shared birthday cakes at childcare and/or schools. They’re really easy to make and allow you to have some fun and get creative.
FOR THIS ‘CAKE’ YOU’LL NEED:
- 1 large whole watermelon (the watermelon is the most important part make sure it has a nice thick mid-section)
- Fruit to decorate; I used a mixture of rockmelon, strawberries, fresh pineapple, grapes and blueberries
THE TOOLS YOU’LL NEED:
- A long sharp knife
- Bamboo skewers
- Tooth picks
- Melon baller
- An assortment of bento mini cutters and or/cookie cutters
- A dish to serve
METHOD:
Start with a room temperature watermelon (watermelons are less incline to crack and break if they’re room temperature) and slice an evenly sized section out of the middle (approx 15cm) using a long sharp knife like so (pictured right).
Next lay the segment onto a cutting board and around the edge close to the rind like so (pictured below left).
Now you’ll need to remove the rind, I found the watermelon segment didn’t want to just slide out so I cut a slit downwards in the rind and just peeled it away.
I also ran my knife across the top like you would when levelling a cake just to make sure it was nice and flat and I also ran it around the outside to make sure it was smooth/even.
After you’ve gotten your watermelon base pop it on a plate and now the fun part, it’s time to decorate! This is really where you can let your creative flair take over, I gave Google a quick search for inspiration and then just went with what I had.
You can use tooth picks if needed to secure the fruit decorations to the cake but just be mindful they are there and make sure they’re removed prior to serving, the only place on my cake where I used tooth picks was along the bottom with the pineapple.
Melon balls make great decoration and if you ball them so you’re left with one flat side they just stick right to the ‘cake’ without needing toothpicks to hold them in place, I also pushed mini cutters into the watermelon base and gently scooped a bit of the shape out so I could place a corresponding shape made from rockmelon into the hole which held in place nicely and lastly I popped some fruit stars on bamboo skewers and threaded some grapes and blueberries into the top of the cake for a decorative effect that was sure to stand out and voila an impressive cake made entirely out of fruit.
About the Author
Creative, Hardworking, Reliable and Funny are all words that Ebony Malcolm is known by. But it was the word MUM that inspired her to take a journey into the world of business and become an author with Neat 2 Eat. Ebony’s son Lachlan was diagnosed with autism at the age of 6 and it was Ebony’s journey of food discovery with Lachlan that created the vision for Neat 2 Eat.