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This Watermelon Cake is made entirely of fresh fruit and tastes even better than it looks. It’s gluten-free, contains only natural sugars, and is a light, refreshing alternative to traditional cake during the hot summer months. Take it to your next potluck, grill out, or holiday party.
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients For A Real Fruit Watermelon Cake
- Variations And Substitutions
- How To Make a Watermelon Cake
- Rachel’s Tips For The Best Results
- How To Serve Watermelon Fruit Cake
- Make Ahead and Storage Tips
- Recipe FAQs
- More Watermelon Recipes You’ll Love
- Fresh Watermelon Cake Recipe
- Rachel’s Tips For The Best Results
- How To Serve Watermelon Fruit Cake
- Make Ahead and Storage Tips
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Showstopping: Whether you’re making this for a birthday party, a backyard BBQ, or just because it’s a Friday in July, I promise everyone is going to be reaching for their cameras before they grab a slice.
- Super Fun: This is such a fun project to get the whole family involved. I like to handle the heavy lifting (peeling that big watermelon with a knife and prepping the pineapple), and then I let the kids go wild with the cookie cutters. There is something so satisfying about turning a pineapple into stars and kiwis into little flowers! It’s like “gardening” on a cake.
- Budget Friendly: If you ordered an Edible Arrangement cake in this same size, you could be looking to spend $100 or more. Making a DIY watermelon cake is fun, easy, and definitely more affordable.
- Any Occasion: While this cake is summer celebration themed and perfect for Memorial Day, 4th of July, or Labor Day, you could customize it for birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or even Christmas if you really wanted to!
I know it may sound intimidating to work with and decorate an entire watermelon, so you may want to try a no-bake watermelon dessert on a smaller scale first. Our frozen watermelon pops can be made two ways: plain, and topped with dark chocolate. Or try our watermelon sorbet. It’s a super simple recipe made with only 3 ingredients.
Ingredients For A Real Fruit Watermelon Cake
These are the simple ingredients that make this Watermelon Cake recipe perfect for a healthy real fruit dessert.
Watermelon: Watermelon is at its peak ripeness during the summer months, and therefore at its peak sweetness as well. It’s full of water to keep you hydrated, low in calories, and full of vitamins your body needs. Read more about watermelon’s health benefits.
Pineapple: Fresh pineapple helps boost immunity, reduce inflammation, and aids in digestion, among other things. Find out all the reasons eating more pineapple is beneficial.
Kiwi: Incredibly high in vitamin C and fiber, kiwis are packed with antioxidants and help support weight management goals.
Berries: I used strawberries and blueberries because I found them to be very ripe at the market, and I love the color contrast with the fresh watermelon cake. But use what you find that is ripe and in your budget.
See the recipe card for full information on all ingredients and quantities.
Variations And Substitutions
Fruit Swaps: While you can’t swap out the watermelon, you can swap out the kind of fruit you decorate it with. Grapes work really well, raspberries and blackberries, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, orange slices, passion fruit, and more!
Garnishes: Mint leaves, thyme sprigs, or rosemary sprigs can all make your watermelon cake extra beautiful.
Change The Size: You don’t have to go big! Make smaller watermelon cakes and decorate them individually. You can use these individual watermelon cups with feta as a guide for making smaller cakes.
How To Make a Watermelon Cake
Step 1. Slice off both ends of the watermelon to create a stable base, stand it upright, and then carefully guide your chef’s knife downward along the curve of the fruit to shave away the rind in sections as shown in the video. Carefully remove the rind while keeping the round cake shape intact the best you can.
Step 2. Cut a thick round slice from the center of the watermelon, about 4-6 inches tall (or more if you have a very large melon).
Place your watermelon “cake” on a serving platter. Repeat with a second shorter slice to create a multi-level (tiered) cake, if desired.
Step 3. Cut the skin off your pineapple. Slice pineapple into ½-inch thick rounds.
Step 4. Use a small star-shaped cookie cutter to cut stars from the pineapple slices.
Step 5. Peel two kiwis using a potato peeler. Slice into rounds. Use your flower cookie cutter to create fun little flowers.
Step 6. For your last kiwi, using a small pairing knife, make tiny V-shaped cuts around the center to create a simple flower shape. Watch the video to see this technique. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Your flower effect appears once arranged on the cake.
Step 7. Use toothpicks to help hold your decorations on the watermelon if needed.
Fill any empty spaces with blueberries and strawberries.
Really have fun with decorating this, and make it your own!
Step 8. Slice into wedges like a traditional cake.
Serve immediately or cover gently with plastic wrap then refrigerate until ready to serve.
Enjoy!
Love, Rachel
Rachel’s Tips For The Best Results
- For families with young children wanting to help put this together, I’d suggest getting the watermelon and pineapple ready for them, since those two fruits require care and precision (so nobody cuts them themselves), then let the kids use the cookie cutters and decorate the watermelon cake however they want!
Eating watermelon is as nostalgic as hearing crickets at night and catching lightning bugs all summer long. For more watermelon recipe ideas you can use all summer, check out this watermelon corn salsa or this watermelon cucumber feta salad.
How To Serve Watermelon Fruit Cake
To serve a raw watermelon cake, you will want to be conscious of the wooden dowels that are holding everything in place. But as long as you know where they are, you should be able to slice the watermelon caked just like a regular cake.
Serve with a dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt, coconut cream mousse, or homemade fruit dip to finish it off.
Make Ahead and Storage Tips
To make sure this fruit cake is a true showstopper at your party, you can make it ahead, but I only suggest doing so about 24 hours ahead of time. Otherwise, the color begins to fade and the watermelon releases a lot of water, making your watermelon cake not so beautiful.
For leftovers however, you can store the cake for up to 3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container and still have it taste great.
Recipe FAQs
Can you make a cake with watermelon?
Yes, you can make a real watermelon cake using raw watermelon and cutting it into the shape of a cake. Garnish with fruit decorations.
Can you make watermelon cake the night before?
As long as you are not adding icing, you should be able to make watermelon cake the night before. However, it may become watery and lose some of its vibrant color in the refrigerator overnight.
Did you try this Watermelon Cake recipe? If so, it would mean so much to me if you would comment and rate this recipe!
🩷Rachel
More Watermelon Recipes You’ll Love
Fresh Watermelon Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large seedless watermelon, or 2 small watermelon
- 1 cup strawberries
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 fresh pineapple
- 3 kiwi
Instructions
- Wash all of your fruit very well including the outside of the watermelon and pineapple before peeling.
- Allow everything to air dry on towels.
- Slice off both ends of the watermelon to create a stable base, stand it upright, and then carefully guide your chef’s knife downward along the curve of the fruit to shave away the rind in sections as shown in the video. Carefully remove the rind while keeping the round cake shape intact the best you can.
- Cut a thick round slice from the center of the watermelon, about 4-6 inches tall (or more if you have a very large melon).
- Place your watermelon “cake” on a serving platter. Repeat with a second shorter slice to create a multi-level (tiered) cake, if desired.
- Cut the skin off your pineapple. Slice pineapple into ½-inch thick rounds.
- Use a small star-shaped cookie cutter to cut stars from the pineapple slices.
- Peel two kiwis using a potato peeler. Slice into rounds. Use your flower cookie cutter to create fun little flowers.
- For your last kiwi, using a small pairing knife, make tiny V-shaped cuts around the center to create a simple flower shape. Watch the video to see this technique. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Your flower effect appears once arranged on the cake.
- Use toothpicks to help hold your decorations on the watermelon if needed.
- Fill any empty spaces with blueberries and strawberries.
- Really have fun with decorating this, and make it your own!
- Serve immediately or cover gently with plastic wrap then refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Slice into wedges like a traditional cake.
Video
Notes
Rachel’s Tips For The Best Results
- For families with young children wanting to help put this together, I’d suggest getting the watermelon and pineapple ready for them, since those two fruits require care and precision (so nobody cuts them themselves), then let the kids use the cookie cutters and decorate the watermelon cake however they want!
How To Serve Watermelon Fruit Cake
- To serve a raw watermelon cake, you will want to be conscious of the wooden dowels that are holding everything in place. But as long as you know where they are, you should be able to slice the watermelon caked just like a regular cake.
- Serve with a dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt, coconut cream mousse, or homemade fruit dip to finish it off.
Make Ahead and Storage Tips
- To make sure this fruit cake is a true showstopper at your party, you can make it ahead, but I only suggest doing so about 24 hours ahead of time. Otherwise, the color begins to fade and the watermelon releases a lot of water, making your watermelon cake not so beautiful.
- For leftovers however, you can store the cake for up to 3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container and still have it taste great.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
