What can I say about little kid birthday parties? Well, they are...interesting. I don't have any children of my own so maybe that's why kid birthday parties seem so alien to me. I just feel awkward standing around watching a bunch of kids play.

However, I recently went to my friend's birthday party for both of her little ones and had quite the people watching experience. Ok, maybe just one person was watched, but it was awesome! The party was at a place called the Watermelon Patch here in Mobile, AL (hence the watermelon cake). The lady that worked there and ran the show was a trip! She sang songs, and blew bubbles, and handled all of the little ones herself, so the adults could just stand around and mingle.

Not only did the Watermelon Patch staff take over playtime, but they also handled everything in the food and drink department. They served pizza and served the cake. They were all very nice.

The hubby and I still felt awkard, being the only married couple there without kids. Maybe we should take the hint? Naaaahhhhhh........

This watermelon cake was super fun! I got to practice airbrushing techniques using Wilton's Color Mist, and the little fondant bees were sooo easy.

Wanna make this cake yourself? Here's what I did:

After covering the cake with buttercream (you could also use fondant), I sprayed the top with red color mist and the sides with green color mist. I let the cake sit for a few minutes to dry.

Cupcakes were also ordered for this cake, so I decided to make them mini watermelon cupcakes. They were baked in green cupcake liners and the tops were sprayed with red color mist.

Once the sides dried, I painted the dark green stripes on the sides. This was difficult on buttercream, so you have to have a really light touch. I tried a couple of different painting methods. First, I tinted some royal icing dark green, but it didn't paint on smoothly. That may have worked on fondant, but not buttercream. I then tried painting on straight gel paste food coloring. In this case, I used Wilton's "leaf green." I used a small flat brush to do the painting.

Finally, I finished the cake with a bit of royal icing and fondant bumble bees. I piped white royal icing along the top edge to create the watermelon rind. Then I piped a very thing line of green along the outside edge of the rind and along the bottom edge of the cake. This helped take cake of any imperfections in those areas. I used brown royal icing to make the seeds and white for the words.

The bees were so simple. They are made of a little ball of yellow fondant with 2 thin black fondant stripes and two white fondant wings. There were no special tools necessary for the bees, just your hands. In fact, the only special tools needed for this entire cake are piping bags, tips, and a paint brush.

I hope YOU make you very own watermelon cake soon!

With love, Ev