Watermelon Cake

So yesterday was my boyfriends birthday and we had dinner at mine with his sister to celebrate. Wednesdays are massive for me i have a full day of uni and work I knew I had to preplan this cake. My original plan did not work, so I had to come up with something pretty quickly.

My original plan was a standard round layer cake nothing too crazy because I didn't have enough time to do what I would have wanted. However, for some reason my usual cake recipe didn't rise at all it was so flat and I didn't have time to make another one (I won't give the recipe until I figure out what went wrong). I decided I would cut it in half and do a layer of icing in the middle to hold it together and I would have to come up with something that was a semi circle. That is when I came up with the idea to do a watermelon cake. 

Tuesday during the day I made the cake so there was plenty of time for it to cool and then I could do the middle layer later in the day. This mean that it would stay in place because it had the right amount of time so it wouldn't move when I did the crumb coating. A crumb coating is the layer that you put on thinly before you actually decorate the cake so you don't get any crumbs in the icing. When I first started cake decorating I never knew this and it made my life so much easier when I read about this is a cake decorating magazine. 

Wednesday night just after work and about 5 minutes before they arrived I started on the crumb coating and then the icing. I started with a white crumb coating and then the 'rind' (I don't know what else to call it). I then used the green icing to do the skin of the watermelon and finally I used the red icing for the flesh. To get the seeds I used the chocolate icing I used for the filling and shaped it using a skewer. To get the darker strips in the skin I used a skewer and dipped it in green food dye and then ran it up the sides to get the desired look. 

Chocolate Icing Filling Recipe 
Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence 
• 10 tablespoons icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons softened butter 
• milk (adjust to the consistency you want) 

Method   

1. Combine all ingredients to get a buttercream consistency. 

Vanilla Buttercream Icing Recipe 

Ingredients

• 50g softened butter
• 1 cup icing sugar 
• Vanilla essence (adjust to taste)   
• 1 tablespoon milk 

Method

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in the bowl until pale (this will make it easier to colour and icing whiter). 
2. Gradually add icing sugar and milk. 
3. Add vanilla essence and adjust to taste (remember it is very strong so only add a little at a time). 
4. Colour icing as you wanted prefer. 

 I have planned another cake for him for his friends and family party (keep in tune for that one).