watermelon Archives - Proud Italian Cook

Summer Party Fruit Ideas

Fruit is always welcome at any occasion especially in the summer when it’s nice and ripe and in abundance. Summertime is the time for parties and picnics, get-togethers, cookouts and fun in the sun.

These simple fruit ideas would be welcome at any party or gathering, not only are they a healthy option, they’re refreshing, crowd pleasing and eye-appealing.

These cantaloupe with fresh mozzarella skewers can be made with or without prosciutto, although I do love the contrast of the sweet with the salty.

All you have to do is find yourself a nice ripe cantaloupe and scoop it into melon balls, purchase some mini bocconcini which are fresh mozzarella balls and thinly sliced prosciutto, if you so desire.

Skewer them together adding a whole basil leaf between, then sprinkle with fresh mint.

I like to lightly drizzle a dressing of one part white balsamic vinegar to three parts olive oil with a touch of honey for sweetness whisked together.

Just place them on a pretty platter and watch them disappear, you can’t imagine how good they are!

Another fun idea with fruit is to make a watermelon “pizza”. Cut a large piece of watermelon, which will be the base of your “pizza”. Place it on a pizza wheel for fun and decorate it with different fruits and berries, again I did the sweet and salty combo by adding some crumbled feta cheese.

Top it off with fresh mint and sliced strawberries then cut it into triangles with an actual pizza cutter.

A fun side dish to anything you might be grilling.

Another thing I like to do is to cut a watermelon into cubes, all you have to do is Google it if you’re not quite sure how to cut it into perfect little squares, but once you get the knack it’s really very easy.

Then you can make this delicious salad of arugula and blackberries tossed with feta and watermelon cubes, the flavor combination is so amazing and it looks gorgeous on a platter with all the pretty colors.

A light drizzle of the dressing above works really well with this lovely salad.

Here’s another version of the watermelon salad turned into individual skewers, perhaps served as a special starter to your meal.

Skewer one cube of watermelon with one cube of feta then top it off with a fresh blackberry and a nice drizzle of balsamic glaze, I promise you will WOW your guests and the best thing is, there’s no cooking required!

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Fresh Watermelon Cake

Here’s a fun and creative way to serve up your next watermelon, carve it into a “cake”!

Who doesn’t love watermelon, it’s a summer staple usually always present at cookouts and parties. This “cake” is made with sweet refreshing watermelon that has been carved and shaped into a cake, it gets frosted with fresh whipped cream and is decorated with fresh summer berries, this could be the perfect red, white and blue cake for your Fourth of July party.

I’ve seen this done online and I couldn’t wait to try it myself, I was skeptical about putting the cream on a wet surface but all you do is pat the melon down really good with paper towels after it’s cut, and I was pleasantly surprised how easy and quick it was to put it all together.

I actually made this early in the morning, had it all frosted and garnished, stuck it in my fridge and pulled it out later in the evening and it was flawless, everything stayed in tact, in fact the cream set up so nice and firm and it was so easy to cut into nice wedges, even leftovers the next day were perfect!

Find yourself a nice round seedless watermelon, you’re going to be cutting the top and bottom off so pick a size according to how many guests you’ll be serving.

The first thing I recommend doing is whipping your cream, you want very stiff peaks and then refrigerate it, get it nice and cold. Have all your berries washed and ready to go. You can garnish your “cake” with whatever you want, berries, nuts, sprinkles, slivered almonds, coconut or other fruit of your choice, make it your own and be creative!

The trimming was easier than I thought, after you remove the top and bottom stand it upright and start slicing the dark outer green rind off all the way around and make sure you see none of the light green rind underneath showing either, take your time and start trimming and shaping it to look like a cake.

When you’re done trimming it put it on top of the platter you’ll be serving it on, don’t worry it doesn’t have to be perfectly shaped.

The whipped cream will hide all the imperfections and so will all your added fruit and garnishes.

It’s unexpected, impressive and a guaranteed show stopper when you bring it out to the table and no baking required!

Happy Summer and Happy 4th!

Fresh Watermelon Cake

Refreshing, unexpected and a beautiful way to serve a watermelon, transformed to look like a cake. It's healthy and delicious too!

Author: Marie

Ingredients

1 whole seedless watermelon
3 cups of heavy whipping cream ( you'll probably have some extra)
½ teaspoon of vanilla
2 tablespoons of confectioners sugar or other sweetener like stevia
assorted fresh berries and other garnishes of your choice like nuts, sliced almonds, coconut, sprinkles, etc.

Instructions

First whip your cream with the confectioners sugar and vanilla, whip until you get nice stiff peeks, then refrigerate bowl.
Wash and dry the whole watermelon.
With a sharp knife slice the top and bottom off.
Standing upright begin removing the dark green rind all around.
Keep trimming the sides removing the light green rind underneath and trimming it into a nice cylinder shape.
Wipe and pat dry the cylinder with paper towels to remove excess moisture.
Place shaped and patted dry melon on serving platter.
Spread cold whipped cream all over with a rubber spatula, top and sides.
Garnish with berries or other things of your choice.
At this point you can refrigerate it until ready to cut. I placed the whole platter into my fridge and didn't cover it, but if you had a cake plate topper that would fit over the top, that would be fine too but not necessary.
If you have some of the "cake"remaining after cutting just refrigerate soon after so the whipped cream doesn't melt down, especially on a hot day.