Upon first seeing the title of this post, I know what may have initially come to your mind: fruit cake? If you’re like me, this phrase usually conjures up memories of over-processed, overly-candied little bricks of what some actually call cake that seem to stack up around Christmastime but never get eaten for some reason….Can you tell I’m not a fan?
But oh no, my friends. This is quite the opposite: it is a culinary masterpiece built completely of fresh fruit!
This is Jessica Blake, the author of this amazing dessert.
I had the pleasure of seeing this fresh fruit cake carved before my eyes, step-by-step, by Jessica who currently attends The Culinary Arts Institute at Utah Valley University. Jessica is always making all sorts of delicious food. She recently made this fresh fruit cake for a birthday party because she wanted to lighten things up with a healthier option. I thought it was so awesome that I asked her to show me how and help put together this tutorial. You will want to sharpen your knives before starting this project! We are starting the perfect season for fresh fruit, so try this as an appetizer or dessert at your next big summer get-together (Or just devour it all at home with your husband and a couple of friends, like I did).
Here’s a YouTube video that we put together for you with the steps and pictures. You can also follow along with the step-by-step pictures and instructions below, or print out the instructions. Last, there is a condensed pinnable version of the cake and the orange rose at the end of this post!
Fresh Fruit Cake
Ingredients
Large watermelon, washed
Granny Smith apple, washed
Lemon Juice
Strawberries
Large purple grapes, washed
Navel orange, washed
Blackberries
Pineapple, washed
Small cantaloupe, washed
Tools
Chef’s knife
Cutting board
Flat round presentation plate
Apple corer
Small bowl
Paring knife
Medium size metal cookie cutter shape (heart, flower, or whatever you fancy)
Toothpicks
Melon baller/Parisian scoop
1. Using a sharp Chef’s knife, cut off both ends of the watermelon so that the middle resembles a cylinder as much as possible.
2. Cut off the rind of the watermelon carefully.
3. **Here is the time consuming step** Use your Chef’s knife to round off the sides of the watermelon, shaving a little at a time until you get the look of a tall, round cake. Level off the top and bottom as well. Set the cylinder-shaped melon in the middle of your presentation plate.
4. Pour some lemon juice into a small bowl. Use an apple corer to remove the apple’s core. Slice the apple in half, then into fourths, and into eighths, and then into sixteenths. You should end up with sixteen equal sized slices.
5. Dip each white part of your apple slices into the lemon juice. This will prevent the apple from browning.
6. Place apple slices in a fan-like manner around the watermelon, all facing the same direction and evenly spaced apart.
7. Place one large grape in between the apple slices, close to the middle of the plate.
8. Cut the strawberries in half down the middle. Leave the stems on. Place the strawberry halves in between the fanned apple slices with the seed side of the strawberry facing up. They should be towards the edge of the plate.
9. **Optional decorative step: Orange Rose** Using the tip of a paring knife, start at one end of the orange and begin to peel the rind in a spiral motion. Continue to spiral down the orange to the opposite end. Try to keep the spiral’s width fairly thin. (Tips: This can take some time if you’ve never peeled an orange this way before, so be patient with yourself. Also, don’t get too close to the meaty part of the orange or the rose can become misshapen.)
10. Notice how in the pictures the peel is coming off yet there is still plenty of white around the actual orange. Roll the spiral peel from where you stopped peeling to where you began peeling, being sure to roll tightly. You will end up with an orange peel that resembles a rose. You can use as a decoration on the side of the fruit cake, or somewhere else in your overall meal presentation.
11. If you choose to skip Steps 9 and 10, use your paring knife to cut off the peel in whatever manner you choose.
12. Remove as much pith (white part) as possible without removing much of the actual orange.
13. **Supreming an Orange** Notice how your orange has natural lines running from top to bottom. Insert your paring knife as close to one of the lines as possible and continue cutting into the orange until you hit the middle. (If you cut gently, you should feel a natural “wall” stopping you from cutting too far in.) Repeat the same cut on the opposite side of the orange slice.
14. Gently pull the orange slice away from the orange. It should look something like this. Gently remove seeds if necessary.
15. Once you have your Orange Supreme (slices without pith or seeds), place them on top of the watermelon, facing the same way and in a fan-like/circular fashion.
16. Place blackberries on the middle of the orange fan you’ve created. Give it some height as this will act as your cake’s garnish. You can also place a blackberry next to each grape around the plate, if you have extras to spare.
17. Using your Chef’s knife, cut off the stem of the pineapple. You can use the stem as a decoration to your meal, if desired. Cut off the opposite end of the pineapple as well.
18. Cut off the rind along the pineapple, removing as many eyes as possible. If you miss some, go back over them to remove them completely.
19. Take note of where the core of the pineapple is from an aerial view. Cut the pineapple vertically as close to the core as possible. Do the same thing to the opposite side of the core.
20. You now have two large pieces of pineapple. Cut the pieces so that they resemble an even rectangular prism as closely as possible while still maintaining a good size width. (Note: In the end, it will likely look more like a rhombus than rectangular prism.)
21. Take your metal cookie cutter and make about 4 cutouts in each slice of pineapple. If your pineapple pieces were thick to begin with, you can cut the pineapple cutouts in half to make them thinner, thus giving you more equal size cutouts to work with.
22. Cut your cantaloupe in half and remove the seeds from the middle. Use your melon baller to make about 10-14 melon balls, depending on how big your pineapple cutouts and watermelon are.
23. Use toothpicks to stick the pineapple cutouts and melon balls into the sides of the watermelon halfway to the top of the watermelon and alternating between both types of fruit. Space them as evenly as possible.
24. You are now ready to impress your guests!
Tips: Rinsing berries with water can cause bleeding onto other fruit, so I do not recommend washing these berries. Rinsing also causes berries to go mushy faster, so I don’t typically wash my berries unless I am going to eat them right away. If you are adamant about washing all fruit before consumption, I recommend placing the blackberries and strawberries on the plate as close to time of service as possible to keep a clean, appealing dish.
Fresh Fruit Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- Large watermelon washed
- Granny Smith apple washed
- Lemon Juice
- Strawberries
- Large purple grapes washed
- Navel orange washed
- Blackberries
- Pineapple washed
- Small cantaloupe washed
Tools
- Chef’s knife
- Cutting board
- Flat round presentation plate
- Apple corer
- Small bowl
- Paring knife
- Medium size metal cookie cutter shape heart, flower, or whatever you fancy
- Toothpicks
- Melon baller/Parisian scoop
Instructions
-
Using a sharp Chef’s knife, cut off both ends of the watermelon so that the middle resembles a cylinder as much as possible.
-
Cut off the rind of the watermelon carefully.
-
**Here is the time consuming step** Use your Chef’s knife to round off the sides of the watermelon, shaving a little at a time until you get the look of a tall, round cake. Level off the top and bottom as well. Set the cylinder-shaped melon in the middle of your presentation plate.
-
Pour some lemon juice into a small bowl. Use an apple corer to remove the apple’s core. Slice the apple in half, then into fourths, and into eighths, and then into sixteenths. You should end up with sixteen equal sized slices.
-
Dip each white part of your apple slices into the lemon juice. This will prevent the apple from browning.
-
Place apple slices in a fan-like manner around the watermelon, all facing the same direction and evenly spaced apart.
-
Place 1 large grape in between the apple slices, close to the middle of the plate.
-
Cut the strawberries in half down the middle. Leave the stems on. Place the strawberry halves in between the fanned apple slices with the seed side of the strawberry facing up. They should be towards the edge of the plate.
-
**Optional decorative step: Orange Rose** Using the tip of a paring knife, start at one end of the orange and begin to peel the rind in a spiral motion. Continue to spiral down the orange to the opposite end. Try to keep the spiral’s width fairly thin. (Tips: This can take some time if you’ve never peeled an orange this way before, so be patient with yourself. Also, don’t get too close to the meaty part of the orange or the rose can become misshapen.)
-
Roll the spiral peel from where you stopped peeling to where you began peeling, being sure to roll tightly. You will end up with an orange peel that resembles a rose. You can use as a decoration on the side of the fruit cake, or somewhere else in your overall meal presentation.
-
If you choose to skip Steps 9 and 10, use your paring knife to cut off the peel in whatever manner you choose.
-
Remove as much pith (white part) as possible without removing much of the actual orange.
-
**Supreming an Orange** Notice how your orange has natural lines running from top to bottom. Insert your paring knife as close to one of the lines as possible and continue cutting into the orange until you hit the middle. (If you cut gently, you should feel a natural “wall” stopping you from cutting too far in.) Repeat the same cut on the opposite side of the orange slice.
-
Gently pull the orange slice away from the orange. Gently remove seeds if necessary.
-
Once you have your Orange Supreme (slices without pith or seeds), place them on top of the watermelon, facing the same way and in a fan-like/circular fashion.
-
Place blackberries on the middle of the orange fan you’ve created. Give it some height as this will act as your cake’s garnish. You can also place a blackberry next to each grape around the plate, if you have extras to spare.
-
Using your Chef’s knife, cut off the stem of the pineapple. You can use the stem as a decoration to your meal, if desired. Cut off the opposite end of the pineapple as well.
-
Cut off the rind along the pineapple, removing as many eyes as possible. If you miss some, go back over them to remove them completely.
-
Take note of where the core of the pineapple is from an aerial view. Cut the pineapple vertically as close to the core as possible. Do the same thing to the opposite side of the core.
-
You now have two large pieces of pineapple. Cut the pieces so that they resemble an even rectangular prism as closely as possible while still maintaining a good size width. (Note: In the end, it will likely look more like a rhombus than rectangular prism.)
-
Take your metal cookie cutter and make about 4 cutouts in each slice of pineapple. If your pineapple pieces were thick to begin with, you can cut the pineapple cutouts in half to make them thinner, thus giving you more equal size cutouts to work with.
-
Cut your cantaloupe in half and remove the seeds from the middle. Use your melon baller to make about 10-14 melon balls, depending on how big your pineapple cutouts and watermelon are.
-
Use toothpicks to stick the pineapple cutouts and melon balls into the sides of the watermelon halfway to the top of the watermelon and alternating between both types of fruit. Space them as evenly as possible.
-
You are now ready to impress your guests!
Jessica, you are amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
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Christina, you are amazing at blogging! I never thought that my tutorial could be as much fun as you’ve made it here! Thank you for asking me to do this with you, it’s such a pleasure to see our own work up here for people to try!
Thanks Jessica! You are too kind. And we’re excited to do some more stuff with you in the future.
Very unique and healthy recipe.