Watermelon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
The perfect no-bake summer dessert. Fresh fruit and a rich cream cheese frosting complete the picture.
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 328kcal
Equipment
- 3 skewers
- toothpicks
Ingredients
Watermelon Cake
- 1 whole seedless watermelon 9-12" long and roundish
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup whipping cream cold
- 3 Tbsps icing sugar
- pinch Cream of Tartar optional
- 4 oz light cream cheese room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Fruit Garnish
- 3 cups various fresh fruits I used cherries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries See Note 1
Instructions
Watermelon Cake
- Cut the ends off the watermelon so you have a flat base to work on.
- Choose 2 plates, bowls or discs that you can use as a templates to cut the watermelon circles. I used a bowl with a 5 ½" mouth and another with a 4" mouth. Use any size that fits on your serving platter and allow for a 1 ½ - 2" difference between the width of the 2 layers.
- Cut the watermelon horizontally in to two pieces about 3 ½" deep each. Heights can vary.
- Ensure that your templates fit well within the pink flesh area of the watermelon. Using the widest template cut straight down to remove the extra watermelon and rind. Repeat with the smaller disc. Ensure no white part of the rind is on the edge of your watermelon tiers.
- You may need to trim the two wedges to make sure they are perfectly flat. Trim as necessary to ensure your wedges are perfectly round.
- Transfer and center the watermelon base on to the serving platter you plan to use.
- Break the skewers if necessary so you have three 3-4" 'posts'. Position them vertically around the center. (About 2" from the center). Leave about half of the skewer sticking out of the bottom layer.
- Center the top watermelon tier over the first and press down gently onto the skewer 'posts'.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Whip the whipping cream in a bowl until it starts to thicken. Add the sugar gradually and whip to medium stiff peaks.
- In a separate bowl whip the cream cheese and vanilla until evenly mixed and soft.
- Add about a ¼ cup of the whipped cream and beat in to the cream cheese mixture. Gradually add the remaining whipped cream until just evenly incorporated. Do not over-beat and deflate the whipped cream.
- To pipe the cream cheese, choose a piping tip and position it in a pastry bag or Zip Lock bag with a corner snipped off with frosting. Fill the bag with with frosting. Pipe a decorative line or florettes around the outer edge of each watermelon tier and around the base. You may have frosting left over. If so, save it to go with the excess watermelon pieces you have cut away.
Prepare Fruit Garnish
- Rinse fruit and allow to drain/dry a bit. Pit cherries if using or destem fruit as necessary. Depending on the fruit you choose you may need to chop it into uniform pieces to match the other fruits.
- Insert a toothpick into some of the larger fruits and stick them into the side of the watermelon tiers to form a cascade down the tiers. Ensure the ends of the toothpicks do not peak out of the fruit.
- Fill the top tier inside the piped edge with fruit. Sprinkle extra fruit around the base ensuring the different varieties are evenly distributed around.
- Refrigerated until ready to serve.
- Cut straight down through the 2 tiers into 6 wedges. You may need to position your cuts to avoid the bamboo posts. Advise guests to remove the toothpicks from the side cascade of fruit if they get the 'waterfall' in their piece. (Or you remove them as you serve)
- Spoon additional fruit from base onto each piece.
- It is best eaten the day of but any leftovers can be refrigerated. (The watermelon will release some water by day 2 that will thin the frosting and possible pool under the additional fruit.)
Notes
Note 1: Use a few different fruits for variety. You can vary according to what is seasonal and available. I used about 1 cup of blueberries, 1 ½ cup cherries, and about ½ cup each raspberries and blackberries.
Note 2: Nutrition assumes you use ¾ of the frosting.
Nutrition
Calories: 328kcal | Carbohydrates: 79g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 58mg | Potassium: 969mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 64g | Vitamin A: 4679IU | Vitamin C: 63mg | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 2mg