RECIPE: A Cake Made From Fruit

Every mother likes to celebrate their child’s birthday with a cake, and we like to ensure they have cake at their school, pre-school or childcare, but that can be extremely difficult nowadays. There are so many children with allergies to eggs, nuts, gluten, and dairy that trying to plan for every eventuality often means not taking cake.

A fun new food trend is the “cake made from fruit”. It alleviates allergy issues, has no added sugar, and is a great healthy alternative to traditional cakes that still allows you to let your creative side free.

You are limited only by your imagination. And, you don’t have to wait for a special occasion to make a healthy cake!

Today we have a tutorial for you by Ebony of Neat 2 Eat as she creates a gorgeous Fruit Cake sure to tempt tiny tummies. Thanks for sharing this with us Ebony, it looks delicious.

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 inclined 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.

Next lay the segment onto a cutting board and around the edge close to the rind like so.

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 or skewers 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.

For this and other fabulous fruit recipes, and many more magnificent ideas to tempt the appetites of your little ones please head over and visit Neat 2 Eat (www.neat2eat.com.au)