Cake #4=Ryley's Watermelon Picnic Cake

A dear friend's daughter saw my cakes and said she wanted me to make her a watermelon cake.  How could I say no to such an odd request from a kid?

Ryley's Watermelon Picnic Cake

The cake:

I used a vanilla cake recipe and added bright pink food dye to create the look of a watermelon's innards  when the cake was cut.

Watermelon:  Two 6" round pans 2" deep.

Picnic Table:  Two 9" round pans 2" deep.

Ground: One 12" round pan 2" deep.

Once baked, I evened off the tops of the cakes with a large serrated knife.  I coated the bottom tier in butter cream frosting that I dyed green for the grass.  I coated the two 9" pans with just a white butter cream frosting.

I put a layer of frosting that I dyed pink to match the cake, between the two 6" pans before carving. I did this to keep the look of the watermelon's fruit cohesive.  Once I carved the shape, I crumb coated the watermelon with a very light green frosting, to create that second layer from the rind on the inside of the fruit.

Watermelon: shaped and crumb coated.

The Table Cloth:

I rolled out white fondant into a circular shape and smoothed it out over the 9" rounds.  I didn't smooth it out completely over the edge.  I used the edges to make a skirt for the table cloth and created some folds in the "cloth."

I then hand cut the squares to make the perfect picnic table cloth.  I made each square 1"x1" and placed them onto the white fondant to create the gingham pattern.  Hindsight is 20/20, and I realized after I did this that I should have placed the squares before I put the white fondant onto the cake.  It would have saved a ton of time.  But I learned from that.  

Gingham patterned table cloth.

The Platter:

I cut a circle for the platter and hand painted some sun flowers on it with food dye.  I used a food marker to create the vines as well.  

The Watermelon:

I covered this in a light green fondant and hand painted the darker green shading on the rind, and used fondant I dyed bright pink for the inside of the watermelon.  I then painted the seeds on with black food coloring. 

I used some of the extra fondant to make some slices and a picnic ant as well.

The Grass:

I dyed butter cream icing to a grass green and piped it onto the edges of the 12" round.  My mother gave me a great tip that helped a lot.  If you don't have an icing bag, take a Ziploc sandwich bag and push the icing tip through the bottom corner.  This will work as a great icing bag in a pinch and save some money.

I also placed some fondant flowers i cut out around the bottom of the grass to give the base a pretty border.