The temperatures this week in the Costa de Luz here in Spain has reached a record high this year and keeping cool has been a challenge…..so when I was looking for inspiration for a friends birthday cake,what says summer and feeling cool more than a chilled watermelon!

I had a few hiccups with running out of red coloring for the sponge and panicking it wouldn’t match. Then when my whole watermelon with buttercream and handpainted finished cake cracked then collapsed….I really was in panic mode!

I just changed the design, and tried to just get a cake to the party! I’m pretty happy with it and the birthday boy and friends enjoyed it. Nobody noticed the different colors as the collapsing did me a favor and I had to separate them!

The cutting board was fun to make, I tried to copy my wooden ikea one and the same with the knife! The top slice of watermelon is rice crispies covered in gumpaste and everything is handpainted with dusts and oil…..note to anyone thinking of handpainting in hot humid conditions….using gels and alcohol is probably not best, it melted my fondant!!! It was a bad time for me to experiment!

Inside was a pink velvet sponge and choc chips with a pink and white Italian meringue buttercream made with shortening….this was my other note to self….use ganache or your watermelon will look like its wearing spanx 5 X too small, it bulges in all the wrong places!

I maybe cake crazy but when the temperature drops, I’m determined to make a whole watermelon….I will just have to put Christmas baubles on it to make it festive 😊