AAhhh, high summer and the markets and shops are full of juicy, fresh fruit and vegetables. We were so excited in our house to see the watermelons come into season as they just scream hot weather and refreshing fruit desserts.
I love using watermelon in place of regular cakes as it is so versatile, can be cut into shapes and married with other fruits to create a light, healthy and refreshing dessert.
At parties/play dates it can also become an activity. Lay out slices of watermelon, cookie cutters and a selection of other fruits to be used as layers or decorations. I use yoghurt as a ‘cream’ substitute or for a non-dairy option, whipped coconut cream also works. If you’d like to avoid non-fruit then banana is a good ‘cream’ too! Everybody can build their own cake and then eat their tailor-made creation. Or serve on a cake stand for a visual statement.
Recipe
Ingredients
- watermelon
- pineapple, blueberries, yoghurt and mint leaves for decoration
- slices of apple, pear, stone fruit, paw paw, banana, kiwifruit are great for layers
- cherries, grapes, berries are good for toppings
- other melons or apples and pears can be used as a base if watermelon is not available
Method
Step 1 I used some silicon cupcake cases I had. Regular cupcake cases (especially the metallic kind) would work well but neither is necessary if you don’t have.
Step 2 Then I cut a base for the cake from a cookie cutter (hand cut is fine too).
Step 3 And added layers of decreasing size.
Step 4 Then placed little blobs of yoghurt on the layers (I used homemade Greek-style).
Step 5 Before adding some fancy toppings – pineapple, yoghurt, blueberry, mint.
Step 6 And moved to a white plate for presentation.
Step 7 Then to prevent arguments I made one for each of the boys too, using different shaped cookie cutters.
Simple, healthy, refreshing and fun…
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