Grandpa Cake

Watermelon flavored theme cake for grandpa’s 75th birthday.

I’ve been wanting to make a watermelon cake for a while now—it’s the perfect symbol of summer and it’s such a fun and whimsical idea. Plus, as a request from the customer I had to make a Grandpa doll, I really love the concept of turning big cakes into realistic pieces of art.

However, I also knew that I wanted my watermelon cake to taste like watermelon, and that part was a little trickier. Watermelon flavoring is pretty easy to buy online, but it’s not something that anyone already has in their pantry, and it’s probably not very available at most grocery stores.

I’ve seen lots of different versions of watermelon cakes, from really elaborate, realistic fondant-covered ones to very simple buttercream designs. I think my version falls in the middle of those extremes. It’s all buttercream.