Watermelon Impostor Cake Food

WATERMELON PULL-APART CUPCAKE CAKE

Steps:

• Reserve about 3/4 cup white buttercream in a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip. Color about 1 1/2 cups buttercream deep green. Color about 3 cups buttercream deep pink, with a few drops of red added to make the color of ripe watermelon.
• Arrange 19 cupcakes in a triangle shape, starting with 1 at the top and ending with 6 at the bottom, sloping the bottom sides up to resemble the curved rind of a watermelon wedge.
• Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to dollop about 1/4 cup green buttercream on each of the 6 cupcakes in the bottom row. Smooth with a small offset spatula, covering the tops and sides (but not the paper liners), to make a solid line of green for the rind.
• Wash and dry the ice cream scoop and offset spatula. Dollop about 1/4 cup pink buttercream on each of the remaining cupcakes and smooth the tops and sides with the offset spatula. Shape the frosting on the top cupcake into a point to resemble the tip of a watermelon wedge.
• Wash the offset spatula again. Pipe a curved line of white buttercream along where the pink and green buttercream meet. Smooth with the tip of the offset spatula to make the inner white part of the watermelon rind.
• Press jelly beans in a random pattern to make watermelon seeds.

WATERMELON CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 8-inch cake pans and a 2-quart (8-inch) metal bowl with cooking spray and coat with flour, tapping out the excess. Line the bottoms of the cake pans with circles of parchment.
• Toss the chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of the flour in a small bowl and set aside.
• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, the remaining flour and 2 cups cold water. Beat on low speed just to combine, then increase the speed to high and beat until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Add red food coloring to deepen the shade from light to dark pink (15 to 20 drops). Stir the flour-coated chocolate chips into the batter. Pour half of the batter into the bowl and divide the remaining batter between the 2 cake pans.
• Bake all 3 cakes until the cake rounds (not the bowl) are risen and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes. Remove the cake rounds to a cooling rack, reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F and continue to bake the cake in the bowl until it is risen and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes more. Cool the bowl cake on a rack, then unmold all three cakes and remove the parchment from the rounds.
• With a serrated knife, cut the domed tops from all 3 cakes to flatten them, and dust off any excess crumbs.
• Remove a heaping 1/4 cup of the frosting to a small bowl and stir in enough red food coloring to approximately match the color of the inside of the cake. Place 1 cake round, cut-side up, on a serving plate. Spread a very thin layer of red frosting on the layer. You do not want the layer to be visible when you cut the cake, it is just to glue the layers together. Top with the second cake round, cut-side down. Spread with another very thin layer of red frosting. Top with the domed cake.
• Frost the entire cake with a layer of white frosting about 1/4 inch thick to make the watermelon "rind." Let the frosting dry and harden in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes
• Meanwhile, put the remaining frosting in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and add green food coloring, about 15 drops to start, to make a medium-pale green color several shades lighter than your fruit candy.
• Smooth the green frosting over the white layer, taking care not to combine the two colors. Drape the green fruit candy over the cake, cutting to fit as necessary, starting in the center like spokes in a wheel to make the lines on the watermelon. Top with the black or brown licorice candy as a stem.

WATERMELON BOMBE

Steps:

• Spray a 9.5-inch bowl with nonstick cooking spray. Line the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside. Turn an 8-inch bowl upside down and spray the outside with nonstick cooking spray. Cover the outside of the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside.
• Prepare the vanilla mousse mix with the whole milk in another bowl according to package instructions. (The milk amount is reduced from package instructions.) Pour the mousse into the lined 9.5-inch bowl. Place the smaller bowl inside and press gently to spread the filling up the sides of the bowl until just below the rim. Put the bowls in the freezer until firmly set, at least 4 hours.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the watermelon cubes out onto the baking sheet in an even layer. Put in the freezer until frozen, at least 3 hours.
• Combine the frozen watermelon cubes, sweetened condensed milk and red food coloring in a food processor. Pulse to break up the watermelon cubes, then let the processor run until the mixture is smooth with a texture like soft serve ice cream. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and mix in the mini chocolate chips.
• Remove the bowls from the freezer. Remove the smaller bowl, revealing a well in the frozen mousse layer. Transfer the watermelon mixture into the well and spread with an offset spatula so the watermelon is smooth and is level with the mousse layer. Place a 10-inch cardboard cake board on top of the cake. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer until set, at least 4 hours or overnight. This can be done up to 2 weeks in advance.
• When ready to decorate, prepare the Watermelon Mirror Glaze. Fit a cooling rack into a baking sheet. Put 3 ramekins on the cooling rack so that the cake can be elevated over the rack. Remove the bowl from the freezer. Discard the plastic wrap covering the cake. Invert the bowl and remove the cake. (If you have trouble removing the cake you can place the bowl in warm water to help loosen it.) Place the cake on the ramekins on the cooling rack. Pour the green mirror glaze over the frozen cake, then squeeze on lines of the yellow mirror glaze. Put in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before serving.
• Combine the corn syrup and 1/3 cup water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Put the melon gelatin into a bowl. Pour the boiling corn syrup and water mixture into the gelatin and gently whisk until the gelatin is dissolved.
• Combine the white chocolate and sweetened condensed milk in a double boiler and heat, stirring frequently, until the white chocolate is just melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour the gelatin mixture into the white chocolate and condensed milk mixture and slowly stir until well combined and the mixture is smooth.
• Divide the glaze into 2 bowls, pouring 1/4 cup in one bowl and the remaining 3/4 cup in the second bowl. Add 1 drop of yellow gel food coloring to the bowl with 1/4 cup of the gaze and 15 drops of green gel food coloring to the bowl with the 3/4 cup of the glaze and mix until well blended. Transfer the yellow glaze to a squeeze bottle. Let sit until the temperature of the glaze is around 85 degrees F. Then it is ready to pour over the watermelon cake.

WATERMELON 'CAKE'

Steps:

• Cut 2-inch-thick slice from both ends of watermelon; discard trimmed slices. Stand watermelon on cutting board. Starting at top of melon, use long thin sharp knife to carefully cut between rind and fruit all around watermelon to separate rind from fruit. Remove and discard rind.
• Pat melon with paper towels to dry; place on platter. Frost with COOL WHIP.
• Decorate with remaining ingredients to resemble photo.