Kiss Melon Cake
Recipe created for Kiss Melons by Cooking on the Weekends
This Fresh Kiss Melon Cake recipe is the most stunning, unique, and delicious melon dessert that everyone will love! Made with seasonal summer melons, it’s incredibly delicious, vegan, fat-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free!
- 1 small (approximately 6 inch) Sugar Kiss melon
- 1 (approximately 6 inch) Summer Kiss melon
- 1 small (approximately 6 inch) seedless watermelon
- 1 cup balsamic vinegar
- cherries or any berry for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
- Make a base on each melon. Cut about an inch or so off the top and bottom of each melon.
- Remove skin. Set each melon on one of its bases and then use a Chef’s knife to remove the skin, cutting about ½-inch inside of it, and slowly working the knife down to the bottom, curving along the shape of the melon as you go.
- Slice melons. Gently turn each melon on its side and slice about half of each one very thinly — but not so thin that they’ll fall apart. About ¼ inch is perfect. (You will need to use part of the remaining halves, so keep them close.)
- Remove seeds. Except for the watermelon, very gently lay each melon slice flat and use a paring knife to cut out the seeds. If they’re pretty even in shape, you can stack a few at a time to do this. Don’t worry about the particular shape you cut, but remove as little of the melon flesh as possible.
- Starting with a watermelon slice (because it’s the strongest), begin to stack the slices, alternating colors. Every time you get to a slice with a center hole, cut a thin slice from its remaining another half — it should be the same thickness, and do your best to cut it to fit the space. Continue to stack the slices — filling in the center holes when need be — until you’ve used up the slices, or made it as tall as you’d like to. The top slice should be watermelon.
- You can leave your “cake” as it is, with uneven edges — which still looks cool — or, you can use a Chef’s knife to very gently cut, starting at the top, all way to the bottom, to create even edges. This cutting process is much like when we removed the skin from the melons, only you won’t be curving the knife — these should be straight cuts.
- Move “cake.”Use a very large metal, firm spatula to carefully lift the structure off of your workspace and onto a plate.
- Make glaze. At any point, while you’re making the cake, you can make the balsamic glaze. Simply pour the vinegar into a small saucepan and place it over medium heat. Once it’s bubbling, turn the heat to low and continue to simmer until it’s reduced by about ¾, and is thick. Remove it from the heat. Cool to room temperature and drizzle it over the cake right before you’re ready to serve.
- Garnish, slice, and serve. Add a few cherries on top for garnish. You can slice this just as you would a regular cake.
