Best Watermelon Fruit Basket Cake Recipes

WATERMELON CAKE

Steps:

• For the frosting: With an electric mixer, beat the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until the cream reaches stiff peaks. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• For the cake: Cut off the ends of the watermelon, leaving the middle section; remove the rind. Pat the outside of the watermelon dry with paper towels. Set the "cake" on a serving plate.
• Cover the watermelon cake with the frosting. Press the almonds into the sides of the cake. Top with the strawberry slices. Cut into 6 to 8 wedges and serve immediately.

WATERMELON BABY CARRIAGE

Steps:

• With a sharp knife, cut a thin slice from bottom of melon so it sits flat. Lightly score a horizontal line halfway up sides and around the melon, leaving 5 in. from one end unmarked on each side for baby carriage hood., For hood, make another line around top of watermelon, connecting both sides of the horizontal line. Using the rounded edge of a biscuit cutter as a guide, mark a scalloped edge along all straight lines. With a long sharp knife, cut into melon along the scalloped lines, making sure to cut all the way through the melon rind. Gently pull off rind. Remove fruit from melon and removed section; cut fruit into balls or cubes and set aside., For the U-shaped handle, cut out a 5-in. square from the removed section of rind. Cut out the center and one end, leaving a 1-in.-wide handle. Break one toothpick in half. Attach handle to watermelon with toothpick halves., For wheels, position orange slices at base of watermelon and attach with toothpicks. To each orange slice with a lime slice and a red grape., In a large bowl, combine the cantaloupe, green grapes, strawberries, remaining red grapes and reserved watermelon. Spoon into baby carriage. Serve with poppy seed salad dressing.

WATERMELON BASKET

Steps:

• Cut a thin slice from the bottom of watermelon with a sharp knife so it sits flat. Mark horizontal cutting line 2 in. above center and around the melon. , For handle, score a 1-1/2-in.-wide strip across the top of melon, connecting both sides to the horizontal line. With a long sharp knife, cut all the way through the rind above the cutting line in a zigzag pattern., Carefully lift off the side pieces. Remove fruit from both sections and cut into balls. Refrigerate the basket., In a large bowl, combine watermelon and honeydew balls. In another bowl, whisk cranberry juice, corn syrup and lime juice until blended; pour over melon balls. Cover and chill for 3 hours., Drain; spoon melon into watermelon basket. In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese and milk until smooth. Beat in sugar, lemon juice and cardamom; serve with melon.

WATERMELON CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 8-inch cake pans and a 2-quart (8-inch) metal bowl with cooking spray and coat with flour, tapping out the excess. Line the bottoms of the cake pans with circles of parchment.
• Toss the chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of the flour in a small bowl and set aside.
• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, the remaining flour and 2 cups cold water. Beat on low speed just to combine, then increase the speed to high and beat until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Add red food coloring to deepen the shade from light to dark pink (15 to 20 drops). Stir the flour-coated chocolate chips into the batter. Pour half of the batter into the bowl and divide the remaining batter between the 2 cake pans.
• Bake all 3 cakes until the cake rounds (not the bowl) are risen and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes. Remove the cake rounds to a cooling rack, reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F and continue to bake the cake in the bowl until it is risen and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes more. Cool the bowl cake on a rack, then unmold all three cakes and remove the parchment from the rounds.
• With a serrated knife, cut the domed tops from all 3 cakes to flatten them, and dust off any excess crumbs.
• Remove a heaping 1/4 cup of the frosting to a small bowl and stir in enough red food coloring to approximately match the color of the inside of the cake. Place 1 cake round, cut-side up, on a serving plate. Spread a very thin layer of red frosting on the layer. You do not want the layer to be visible when you cut the cake, it is just to glue the layers together. Top with the second cake round, cut-side down. Spread with another very thin layer of red frosting. Top with the domed cake.
• Frost the entire cake with a layer of white frosting about 1/4 inch thick to make the watermelon "rind." Let the frosting dry and harden in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes
• Meanwhile, put the remaining frosting in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and add green food coloring, about 15 drops to start, to make a medium-pale green color several shades lighter than your fruit candy.
• Smooth the green frosting over the white layer, taking care not to combine the two colors. Drape the green fruit candy over the cake, cutting to fit as necessary, starting in the center like spokes in a wheel to make the lines on the watermelon. Top with the black or brown licorice candy as a stem.