Not Your Traditional Watermelon Cake!

Preparing for my segments on Deborah Duncan’s Great Day Houston show is always a fun and challenging adventure. Many of the TV segments I do on other shows revolve around restaurant dishes around the city that I enjoy as well as wine choices worthy of your time.

On Deborah’s show, we’ve ventured into interesting territory like the segment where we highlighted all of the other uses for peanut butter despite the obvious. We actually cleaned a leather purse with the gooey stuff, something I don’t recommend trying at home.

Most recently, I displayed a decadently delicious bacon- laced popcorn, a recipe given to me by Chef Peter Låufer at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Deborah’s reaction was priceless! She’s such a pro.

My newest assignment for Great Day Houston involves watermelons, specifically a watermelon cake. All I had to go by is a photo of how the finished cake should look. Here is how the segment turned out. The cake makes a beautiful presentation!

This is not your traditional cake. There is no batter, no baking – the watermelon flesh is the cake. Figuring out a way to ice watermelon is quite tricky, but after several attempts with everything from cream cheese frosting to whipped cream, I finally nailed it. I peeled my melon the day before and loosely covered it overnight in the refrigerator before frosting it.

The original recipe came from The Paleo Cupboard and called for a coconut flavored whipped cream. I used Cool Whip, and it worked fine.

In addition to the watermelon cake for the segment, I’m bringing a delicious Watermelon Gazpacho that Olivette at The Houstonian serves. This is an incredibly refreshing and healthy soup (watermelons are loaded with nutrients), perfect for our summer heat.

From my friends at H-E-B’s Cooking Connection, I’ll be bringing a Watermelon Glazed Chicken. I was a HUGE skeptic when asked to try this dish, but OMG, it is delicious!