The maker of these remarkable pizza portraits is Domenico Crolla who is the owner of Bella Napoli Pizzeria in Glasgow in the UK. His skill at making pizza portraits caught the attention of Pizza magazine who featured Domenico on their cover.

I don’t know how Domenica constructs this pizza portraits but here are photos of a bunch of them for your viewing enjoyment. I’m sure you’ll recognize who is in many of these portraits made of cheese and tomato sauce.

Pizza Portrait of “Old Blue Eyes” Frank Sinatra by pizza maker extraodinaire, Domenico Crolla

Uncle Sam Pizza food art by Domenico Crolla

When asked about his unusual talent, this is what Domenico told me.

I’ve always had an artistic hand at creating good looking pizzas( modestly!), but the portraits started when I was asked to go to Hong Kong for some cooking demos.

I wanted to recreate the Chinese style edible food decorations, but with pizza.

Bruce Lee and the Mortal Kombat Dragon where my first two designs inspired for the HK visit.

Domenico Crolla’s First Pizza Portraits

Here are Domenico’s first two pizza portrait and designs.

One of Domenico’s first pizza portraits was this one of Bruce Lee.

This dragon is another of Domenico’s first pizza designs that he made for a cooking demo in Hong Kong.

Since his first pizza portrait, Domenico has gone on to create food art of many iconic celebrities. He said that posting his pizza food art on Facebook and Twitter has been a great PR tool for his pizza restaurant.

More Food Art Pizza Portraits of Iconic Figures.

Here is a pizza of one on my husband’s favorite performers, Beyonce.

Food art Pizza of Beyonce Knowles by Domenico Crolla

I would say that this famous people have been immortalized in pizza. But that would not be accurate. Domenico informed me,

Unlike many fruit and vegetable carvings, pizzas need be photographed as soon as possible as the deteriorate very quickly. After an hour or so they end up looking like a Dominos pizza…no good to anyone LOL!” – Domenico Crolla

So he’s got to work fast and they don’t last long.

Marilyn Monroe Pizza portrait by Domenico Crolla

This Marilyn Monroe pumpkin portrait was carved by me, Nita Gill. I added it here because it looks like Domenico and I used the same photo as inspiration for our food art.

Another of Domenico’s Marilyn Pizzas.

Domenico Crolla with his pizza portrait of singer Rhianna

The Mona Lisa – pizza art

The Pope pizza

Santa Claus Pizza

I cannot teach you how to make pizza portraits, but if you are interested in learning to carve portraits in pumpkins and watermelons, you love my Portrait Carving Course.

You can also get a free lesson showing how to carve a beautiful flower bouquet from radishes by signing in for the free lesson at the top of this page.

 If you would like to see more of Domenico’s creative food art pizza portraits, you can visit his Instagram page.

See Pamela Anderson watermelon portrait

In keeping with the theme of watermelon portraits that I’ve been in my past few blog articles, today I’m showcasing some carved watermelon celebrity portraits. As I wrote this article I remembered times when I’ve seen a few of these celebrities live. I’ll tell you those stories.

Katya Stefanova Carves Watermelon Celebrity Portraits

Watermelon carving artist Katya Stefanova came to my attention when images of her celebrity portraits showed up in my Facebook feed.  Although she is not a customer/student of mine, I am showcasing her carvings here to show you some examples of how you can carve watermelon portraits.

Katya lives is Küstendil, Kyustendil in Bulgaria. It is interesting to see how so many of Katya’s celebrity portraits are of famous Americans. From Katya’s carvings, it’s easy to see that American pop culture certainly reaches across the world.

Carved watermelon portrait by Katya Stefanova of Pamela Anderson who is probably best known for her former acting role on Bay Watch and for being married to rocker Tommy Lee.

My husband and I once saw Pamela Lee in person. We were attending the American Music Awards several years ago. At the time, Pamela Anderson was married to Kid Rock who had been nominated for an American Music Award. The show is shot live and so has to run in a tight organized, timely fashion. After almost the entire audience was seated including the other celebrities and nominees and at the last moment before the show was about to begin, Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock made their entrance to take their seats. They (or I should say she) created quite a stir as they walked down the center isle greeting people as they went. She was wearing a slinky, sparkly, sequined, eye popping dress that was barely there.

I dug up a couple of photos of event off the internet so that you can see what I mean. I don’t know how she moved without revealing everything. Needless to say, all eyes were on Pamela as she made her dramatic entrance.

Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock at the American Music Awards in 2009. Notice the rubber necking onlookers in the background.

I don’t remember whether or not her husband, Kid Rock won an award or not. But several months later, I made a spoof dress for a statue to give to my sister-in-law who was with us at the American Music Awards. We laughed about it a lot, and still do when we retell the story.

Spoof statue of Pamela Anderson in a dress that NIta sewed that was inspired by the dress that Pamela wore to the American Music Awards.

This next celebrity portrait watermelon carving by Katya Stefanova is of Pierce Brosnan playing the role of James Bond.

Pierce Brosnan another celebrity that I’ve seen in person. My husband and I attended the “last concert” of Barbara Striesand in Los Angeles. (Since then she has had at least 2 more “last concert” tours as well as smaller appearances.) There were quite a few celebrities sitting in the section in front of us.

During the intermission I went to the ladies room and while on my way there almost ran smack into Pierce Brosnan as we both came around a corner from opposite directions. He looked me up and down (I was wearing a sparkly red beaded dress), we both nodded, smiled and continued on our ways. Not very eventful, I know. It’s just that this watermelon portrait reminded me of that day. He was just as attractive in person as he is on camera.

Watermelon Portrait of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.

 I’ve never seen the rest of these celebrities carved in the following photos of watermelon portraits carved by Katya Stefanova…oh wait a minute, I did see Michael Jackson perform with Diana Ross in musical, THE WIZ at the Ahmanson Theater Los Angeles when Jackson was a teenager. That was after the Jackson 5 and before Michael Jackson cut the albums Bad and Thriller. Oh, what a long time ago that was. My mom took me to see THE WIZ for my 16th birthday.

When I started writing this post it was just going to be about the carvings. I’ve gotten sidetracked with memories.

Here are a few more carved watermelon celebrity portraits for you to enjoy.

Watermelon carving portrait of the late King of Pop, Micheal Jackson by Katya Stefanova

 Just think, you can have celebrity portraits grace your next  party by carving your own watermelon portraits.

Does anyone that you love have a crush on a celebrity AND have a birthday coming up? Wouldn’t it be fun to surprise him or her by having their celebrity crush attend their party as a watermelon portrait? You can.  It’s easy to carve watermelon portraits once you know how with step-by-step, easy to follow video instructions. Your guest of honor will be surprised, delighted and amazing at your talent. (Our little secret – You don’t need to be talented. But we’ll never tell.)

Watermelon carving portrait of former President of the United States, Ronald Reagan by Katya Stefanova

Dr. Phil watermelon portrait by Katya Stefanova

Carved watermelon celebrity portraits by Katya Stefanova include Tiger Woods and Elvis Presley

And last but not least, here is a photo of Katya Stefanova of Bulgaria with another of her watermelon celebrity portraits. This watermelon portrait carving is of the late Pope John Paul.

Fruit carving artist Katya Stefanova with her watermelon celebrity portrait of the late Pope John Paul.

Thank you Katya for sharing your carved watermelon celebrity portraits. Great job!

American Idol Season 12, Carved Watermelon Celebrity Portraits

At the beginning of the 2013 American Idol season, I carved these two portraits of Niki Minaj and Mariah Carey. Now, rumor has it that all of the American Idol judges are likely to be replaced. We know for sure that Randy Jackson is leaving. Although Mariah Carey is the best selling female vocalist of all time, apparently she is not the best judge. And Niki, well, she bluntly tells it as she sees it. I read somewhere that her aggressive manner is not loved by American Idols’ large audience of middle aged, mid-Western American women.

I suspect that the newer competing shows like The X Factor, and The Voice have eaten into the American Idol ratings. Maybe that is why the executive producer Nigel Lithgoe is also rumored to be getting the ax.

Anyway, back to the portraits, here are my watermelon celebrity portraits of Mariah and Niki that kind of sums up their relation ship with each other during the beginning of this season.

Here you can see these carved watermelon celebrity portraits of Nicki and Mariah in two different lighting conditions. In both photos the watermelons are lit from within. The top photo has more ambient light while the lower is in darkened conditions.

You, too, can learn to carve watermelon portraits. It’s easy once you know how. That is exactly what I teach, step-by-step in my Pumpkin Carving Portraits video Course which also teaches how to create watermelon portraits. You can learn more about my Portrait Carving Course by clicking this link.

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing these carved watermelon celebrity portraits.

Professional Fruit Artist Aneta Lekas meets Brad Smith and Bianca Kamber of the Bachelor Canada

Recently, Aneta Lekas of Say It With Fruit promoted her fruit carving services at the Toronto Bridal Show. Aneta Lekas is a professional fruit carver in Toronto Canada who is one of my student /customers of my Portrait Carving Course. For her display booth she carved a watermelon portrait of the Bachelor Canada‘s Brad Smith and Bianca Kambera and got the pleasure of meeting the happy couple.

Aneta Lekas Carves Watermelon Portrait of Brad Smith and Bianca Kamber of  The Bachelor Canada.

Aneta Lekas with her watermelon portrait of the Bachelor Canada’s Brad Smith and Bianca Kamber

Aneta with the Bachelor Canada’s stars, Brad Smith and Bianca Kamber.

Professional Fruit Artist Aneta Lekas meets Brad Smith and Bianca Kamber of the Bachelor Canada

 ”It was privilege to meet the Bachelor Brad Smith and his fiancé Bianka Kamber” – Aneta Lekas

A closer look at the Watermelon carving portrait of Brad Smith and Bianca Kamber of The Bachelor Canada by Aneta Lekas

Aneta’s booth at the Toronto Bridal Show shows a pretty way to wrap and present a gift of a carved watermelon portrait

The Bachelor Canada Proposal

Bachelor Brad Smith was the star of the first season of Bachelor Canada. It’s Canada’s version or The Bachelor that has aired in the US for a number of years now. For those of you that can’t resist the always emotional proposals of The Bachelor, here is Brad’s proposal to Bianca.

If you are in Toronto and looking for a fruit carver for your next event, look up Aneta Lekas of Say it With Fruit.

If you want to amaze your guests by carving memorable watermelon portraits, you can. It’s easier than you may think. All you need is to be show how, step- by-step. Click this link to see more about my Pumpkin Carving Portrait Course that also teaches how to carve great watermelon portraits.

To learn more about how to carve watermelon portraits (as well as pumpkin portraits), check out my page about my Pumpkin Carving Portrait Course.

 These carved portraits are great for honoring people at weddings, birthdays, anniversaires, promotions, graduations, retirement parties and more.

Learn How to Carve a Watermelon Portrait and Amaze Your Friends and Family

When you learn to carve watermelon portraits, you will amaze your friends and family.People may even begin to ask you to carve portraits for their special events. It’s happened to many of my student/customers.

If you are already in the catering business, or the fruit carving business, you will find watermelon portraits to be an additional unique service to add you your repertoire that your customers will love and remember.

I should rename my Pumpkin Carving Portrait Course because the skills learned in the course also apply to carving watermelon portraits. In my course, you learn how to created your own patterns for carving portraits. You will learn the secrets to what makes a really good pattern for a recognizable portrait. You will learn several ways to transfer your pattern to your watermelon or pumpkin. You’ll learn about the best tools for making patterns, transferring patterns and carving your portraits. You learn how to make 2 toned portraits and how to make multi-shaded portraits, how to light your portraits, how to store them….and lots more.

 Explore how you can make a great watermelon portrait by clicking here.

Carved pumpkin portrait is the highlight of this birthday fruit display by Deborah Cheeseman

A carved pumpkin portrait make a great centerpiece for birthday fruit carving displays.

One of my student/customers Deborah Cheeseman, who is a professional caterer and fruit carver in Alabama, created a really fun and personalized birthday fruit display for a party honoring her 90 year old aunt.  I loved it and thought you might get a kick out of seeing it, too. It’s fun, happy and free spirited like the 90 year young birthday girl that it was created to honor.

The centerpiece is a pumpkin portrait of Deborah’s Aunt “Baby Rae”. Debbie wrote to me the following:

“At the last minute, I just free-handed her pumpkin…I told her I wasn’t sure who this lady was but she came to the party anyway?!? She laughed, and her children said it was a pretty good likeness.”

I don’t know what Aunt Baby Rae looks like but this is a good looking pumpkin portrait! Especially for a carving it without a pattern! Well done Deborah.

A Closer look at Deborah’s Free Handed Pumpkin Portrait

Caterer and Fruit Carver, Deborah Cheeseman free handed this pumpkin portrait for her aunt’s 90th birthday party

I told Deborah that I loved the carved red lips in her display. She wrote,

The lips are chayote squash…they have a natural pucker at their bottoms. I couldn’t resist!”

Deborah carved away the skin of the chayote squash in the shape of lips and dyed the flesh with red food coloring to give the look on red lips. So cute!

About her aunt, Deborah had this to say,

This gal is 90, wears those high-heeled shoes to go dancing, has always loved Betty Boop, so her children wanted a spoof on the table for her! They loved the lips too!”

In the photo below, you can see that Deborah carved a watermelon with a Betty Boop graphic next to her pumpkin portrait.

Because the birthday girl is a long time fan of Betty Boop, Deborah carved a watermelon with a Betty Boop graphic. She also carve puckered red lips from chayote squashes. Such a cute idea!

 Pumpkin Portrait Carving Techniques can also be used to carve portraits graphics onto watermelons.

Closer look at Deborah Cheeseman’s Betty Boop watermelon carving and chayote squash lips.

Here you can see the whole table including the high heeled shoe carved on the watermelon on the right side of the table.

In the photo above, you can see that Deborah used the pumpkin carved with the portrait as a vase for a vegetable bouquet made with peppers, turnips, leeks and a zucchini bird. She artfully arranged the fruit around it all and used another small hollowed out pumpkin as a bowl to serve dip. You can also see the watermelon carved with a high heeled shoe to the right of the pumpkin portrait.

I love how Deborah made this fruit display so personal for her Aunt. It was very thoughtful. whimsical and fun.

Deborah’s  90 year old aunt “Baby Rae” sounds like a kick! Reminds me of a great aunt of mine who has passed on. Makes me smile.

Thanks Deborah, for sharing your photos with us.

Learn how you can carve your own pumpkin portraits. You DON”T have to be an artist and you don’t have to free hand carve your portraits. I teach an easier way to make very recognizable watermelon and pumpkin portraits. See more about my portrait carving lessons by clicking here.

By the way, when pumpkins are out of season, portraits can be carved using watermelons. Pumpkin and watermelon portraits are great to make for guests of honor at birthdays, weddings, promotions, retirements and more. And watermelon portraits can also be used as a vase for a fruit and veggie bouquet as Deborah made with her pumpkin portrait.

If you would like to see more birthday fruit carving ideas and displays, check out some of my other blog articles. You might also like my Watermelon Cakes ideas.

If you would like to learn more about carving and watermelon and pumpkin portraits, take a look at my Pumpkin Carving Portraits Course. You can amaze your friends and family (and clients) with your carved pumpkin portrait s.

Making breakfast or brunch for Mom? Individual serving fruit bouquet would be fun.

Are you looking for something more original? If your mom lives near you, you can present her with something a little different. How about making her a flower bouquet made of fruits or vegetables?

Something Small and Sweet for Mother’s Day

An individual serving of fruit arranged in a small bouquet would be fun, especially if you are serving her breakfast in bed. This square garden fruit bouquet is one of the many projects taught in my Vegetable and Fruit Carving 101 Course for Beginners.

What about a melon carved to look like a bunch of flowers? This watermelon that I carved to look like a bunch of curled petal roses is a pattern that will be taught in one of my upcoming video lessons. The release date is yet to be announced. This watermelon rose bouquet can serve as a decoration and then it can be sliced and served as dessert.

Nita Gill carved this watermelon to look like a bouquet of roses with curled petals.

Looking for a Grander Mother’s Day Display?

Look at what a few fruit and vegetable carvers created for Mother’s Days past years.

Last year, after Mother’s Day, professional ice and fruit carver Greg Butauski sent me this photo of his Mother’s Day carved fruit display. It’s really pretty isn’t it?

Mother’s Day fruit carving display by professional fruit and ice carver, Greg Butauski

Fruit Carving Mother’s Day Display at Disney Resort

Ruben Olano is a professional fruit carver for Disneyland. When we heard from him last year, Disney had stopped adding fruit carving displays to their brunches and other events. But now, Ruben is back happily making carvings for Disney. Here are a few of his photos of carvings for one of Disneyland’s Mother’s Day events.

Carvings made my Ruben Olano for Disneyland’s Mother’s Day Brunch.

Happy Mother’s Day carved in into watermelon using Disney’s recognizable font. Carving by Ruben Olano

Three letters that say it all. Carved by Ruben Olano for the Disney resort.

More of Ruben Olano’s watermelon carvings for Disney Resort’s Mother’s Day.

I’ll bet the whole display was even more fantastic once all the food was placed around his lovely carvings. You can see more of Rubens’ Mother’s Day carvings here.

Abby Viera created this watermelon hat that you might have seen previously on my blog. I’m showing it again because she made it for a Mother’s Day event. Cute ideas isn’t it?

Carved fruit hat by Abby Viera was made for a Mother’s Day event.

This bunch of beet and Turnip roses were one of Rodney Dinkin’s first attempts as carving roses from beets after learning from my Hearts and Roses video lessons. He made this vegetable rose bouquet for Mother’s Day. He did a very good job – especially for his first beet and turnip roses.

You can learn how to carve beet and turnip roses in my Hearts and Roses video lessons.

This bouquet made of carved beets and turnips was Rodney Dikin’s first attempt at making carved veggie roses.

If you have not yet seen my free radish bouquet lesson, you can get it right now by signing in for the free lesson at the top of this page. If would be a fun, dramatic and easy bouquet that you could give for Mother’s Day.

When you sign at the top right hand of this page, you will get instant access to a complete step-by-step video showing you exactly how to make this lovely radish flower bouquet centerpiece.

If you want to make a fruit or vegetable bouquet for Mother’s Day, you will find lots of my other blog posts with photos by clicking here.

Here is another idea the Louise Ahmed from the UK sent to me on Facebook. They celebrated Mother’s Day in the UK a bit earlier than we do here in the U.S.

Louise Ahmed’s Mother’s Day melon carving

Here is another photo that just came in to me on Facebook from Najwa Dorgali.

Mother’s day carving by Najwa Dorgalli

Whether you are a beginner or a pro, and whether you want to make a something small and sweet, or a grand Mother’s Day display, I hope you have fun presenting your mom with something special. Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Birthday Watermelon carving by Mariano Orozco

Recently I published a couple of articles showing Happy Birthday watermelon carvings that look like cakes. Now I’ll show you a few other birthday watermelon carvings that some of my student / customers have created for their loved ones and their customers.

Happy Birthday Watermelon Carving – Bowl

This first watermelon carving was made by one of my student/customers Rose Flores. She sent this photo to me back in June. Rose had been making some carvings for her friends and family before joining my lessons. She really caught on fast.  You can see one of her first rose watermelon carving in a previous blog post. Below, you can see her first paid order for a birthday watermelon carved fruit bowl.

Rose Flores created this clever watermelon bowl to celebrate a birthday

Isn’t it clever how Rose embedded the honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon carved to look like balloons? It’s so colorful. And she cut the top so that it looks great with the top on or off to reveal the watermelon balls inside. Great job Rose.

Roses carved watermelon bowl look great with the top on or off.

Birthday Watermelon Carving Centerpieces

Seems like I’ve been mentioning Mariano Orozco quite a bit lately. He is one of my customer/ students who’s carving work just keeps getting better and better. Here are a couple of happy birthday watermelon carvings he has created.

Mariano Orozco carved this elegant script “Happy Birthday” for a pretty watermelon centerpiece.

 Here are a couple of Mariano’s watermelon carvings for birthdays that have adorable Disney character themes.

Mini Mouse 1st birthday watermelon cake by Mariano Orozco

If you want to carve patterns like these into watermelons, you will find my pattern transfer paper makes it faster and easier. You can learn more about the pattern transfer paper on my website by clicking here.

Donald Duck watermelon carving by Mariano Orozco. Nita’s pattern transfer paper makes carving your graphic pattern onto a watermelon much faster and easier than traditional methods.

Arturo Garcia who is another one of my student /customers made this happy birthday watermelon carving and colorful fruit display for a birthday celebration. Nice job Arturo.

Happy Birthday Watermelon Carving is the centerpiece for this fruit display made by Arturo Garcia

Happy Birthday Watermelon Carving Vase

This last (but not least) Happy birthday watermelon carving was done by another customer/student Jose Luis Vergara. He used his watermelon carved with the words Happy Birthday as a vase for a fruit bouquet. Isn’t it pretty? Another great job Jose.

Happy Birthday watermelon carving used as a vase for a lovely fruit bouquet. This was created by Jose Luis Vergara.

Watermelons can be carved in so many ways to celebrated birthdays and other events. I appreciate my student/customers sending me their wonderful photos and ideas. I hope this article have given you some inspiration and ideas for making your own Happy Birthday Watermelon Carvings.

In a recent blog post I showed some watermelon cakes similar to the ideas presented in my video lessons Watermelon Cakes #1 and #2.  Now I’ll show you some variations on those ideas. Make sure to read to the end to see some wacky and imaginative fruit cakes.

This first cake made from fruit is about as close to carving fruit as my husband, Frank gets. We wanted to put together a quick cake made of fruit for Franks son’s birthday. My stepson is an Iron Man Triathlete and doesn’t much care for real cake. This was a kind of last minute thing.

Watermelons were not in season so Frank got the largest honeydew and cantaloupe that he could find. I quickly carved the honeydew for the cake topper while Frank cut slices of the melons. Frank did manage to get a mini watermelon and he cut a cylinder of watermelon to stuff in to the center of the “cake’ where the honeydew and cantaloupe slices were hollow. You can’t see it because it’s inside this cake made of fruit. Frank assembled the cake, and added the top. The layers were held together with skewers so that we could transport it in the car without it sliding apart. I added the pineapple rings and honeydew balls around the base.

It wasn’t the most perfectly done of the cakes made of fruit shown on this page, but I thought it turned out pretty and arrived in one piece. Frank’s son was not thrilled with the balloon and silly hats that we brought. He said to Frank, “I’m not 5, Dad.” (He is several decades past that).  But he did enjoy eating the cake. When we cut it to serve it was pretty with the three colors of the fruit on the outside and the surprise watermelon core on the inside.

Another view of our quick cake made of fruit

Variations of Cakes Made of Fruit

Here is a carved rose watermelon with leaves around the edges that was made by Aruto Garcia. He added “candles” made of skewered fruit. It’s a fun and clever idea, don’t you think? The kiwi slices might look even more like flame it the tops were carved to a point like a flame. Still, it’s adorable.

Rose Watermelon Cake with fruit “candles” by Arturo Garcia

And here is another or Arturo Garcia’s watermelon rose cakes. Arturo learned to carve watermelon roses in my video lessons Carving Watermelons – Roses, Buds and Leaves.

Another watermelon rose cake by Arturo Garcia

In this Happy Birthday watermelon cake that Titi Ayodele made, she added white chocolate covered strawberries that were decorated with a baseball design. It’s a creative way to decorate the strawberries.

Watermelon cake with baseball decorated strawberries

Another view of watermelon cake with strawberries decorated to look like baseballs by Titi Ayodele

Qamar Azam made this easy watermelon cake and topped it with a citrus peel rose garnish.

watermelon cake topped with a citrus peel rose garnish by Qamar Azam

This watermelon cake design was made by Carl Jones. Decorated with a carved watermelon rose, strawberries and watermelon rinds leaves, it look like it could be a single serving cake made from mini watermelon.

Watermelon cake by Carl Jones

 Vicki Littel and Haliman Odejimi took the easy watermelon cake design and added lot of fruit.

Vicki Littel’s watermelon layer cake

Halima Odejimi’s watermelon Cake is like a fruit salad in the form of a cake.

Kerri Cormier lined grapes along the tops of her watermelon cake layers and added the letters to the side of the cake rather than the top of the cake. It is an effective way to use large cookie cutter letters.

Cake made of fruit by Kerri Cormier celebrates being cancer free.

Wacky and Wild Cakes Made of Fruit

I don’t remember how these next two photos or cakes made of fruit came to me but I believe they were sent to my by Marius Tudorache. I’m not sure if Marius was the artist of just snapped the photo. But, I am including these photos because they show whimsical and imaginative cakes made from fruit. This first photo appears to have been made to celebrate the birthday of a seven year old.

Whimsical layered cake made of fruit shows a lot of imagination.

 Fruit display that looks like a wacky multi-layered cake. This photo was also sent to me by Marius Tudorache.

Fruit display that looks like a wacky multi-layer cake.

 I hope you enjoyed seeing these photos. Whether they be pretty or wacky and wild, have fun making your own cakes made of fruit!

Carved watermelon rose topped cake taught in Nita’s Watermelon Cakes video instructions.

For diabetics, vegans, people with gluten allergies and for others who simply want a clean healthy alternative to regular cake, cakes made from watermelons are great.  They are pretty, colorful and pleasing to the eye. From a health perspective, watermelon cakes are a  much better choice because they have none of the artery clogging fat, and none of the highly refined white flour and sugar found in regular cakes. Compared to commercially available cakes and cake mixes, watermelon cakes have no artificial colors, flavors, additives or preservatives. Cakes made from watermelons contain only fresh fruit.

Even for people with no dietary restrictions, cakes made from watermelons are an eye-catching unexpected surprise that will delight your guests.

Video Lessons Teach Cakes Made from Watermelons

Since introducing my watermelon cake ideas in my video lessons Watermelon Cakes #1 and #2, I have received so many emails with photos from all over the world. Many people have told me about the celebrations for which they have made watermelon cakes and how the guests (and clients) have loved them. I have shown many photos in past articles on my blog  where I have have featured cakes made from watermelons by my students and blog readers.

In this article, I will share with you photos of cakes made from watermelons that have been sent to me by my student/customers and blog readers. Keep in mind that these photos are not taken my professional photographers. Also, some of these cakes are the first attempts at making watermelon cakes. What is interesting is how people will take an idea and add their own twist and ideas.

First, here are a couple of photos of the watermelon cake ideas that I teach in my video lessons. By the way, cakes made from watermelons are near and dear to my heart because my first watermelon cake is what led to me to my passion of fruit carving. You can read more about that story here.

Intermediate 2 tier carved watermelon cakes topped with carved watermelon roses taught in Nita’s Watermelon Cakes  video lessons.

Easy cake & Happy Birthday Carved watermelon taught in Nita’s Watermelon Cakes video lessons.

 Nita’s Student/Customer Share Their Watermelon Cake Photos

If you’ve been reading my blog recently, you may have seen the cakes made from watermelons my one of my customerstudents Marioano Orozco. His skills at making watermelon cakes and carvings have grown to be excellent!  Here is just one on the photos of his spectacular watermelon cakes. To see a few more of Mariano’s carved watermelon cakes, visit my past blog article.

Watermelon cake by Mariano Orozco

Student/customer Ali Tahir Butt in Australia got very exited about his new skills at carving roses and cakes that he learned in my video lessons. Here is his really big watermelon cake carved from a large watermelon for his wife on her birthday. You can read more and see more photos in another of my previous blog posts.

Watermelon Cake by Australian, Ali Tahir Butt. One of Nita’s Student / customers, Ali was inspired to carve this large watermelon “cake” for his wife’s birthday.

Here are a few other cakes made from watermelon that my student/customers and blog readers have created. This is a petaled edged watermelon cake made by student/customer Mike Ghali.

Watermelon cake with roses on top that Mike Ghali created after watching Nita’s Watermelon Cakes #2 video lessons

Mike Ghali also made this pretty happy Birthday Cake. He added a rose bud design to the sides of his watermelon cake and embedded the “Happy Birthday” carved from the watermelon rind into the cake top. The green rind letters make a really nice color contrast.

The Happy birthday letters carved from the rind make an appealing color contrast in this cake made from watermelon by Mike Ghali.

Here is a happy Birthday watermelon cake made by Allan Jarvis who also happens to be in Australia. here is what he wrote in his email.

“I received my order for the water melon cakes in good time as I had to make one for a friend who runs the Thai restaurant near me. It turned out okay, about 6-7 out of 10 but the people were happy, group of 20.”

This rose topped birthday cake was Allan Jarvis’ first attempt at making watermelon cakes.

Side view of Allan Jarvis’ first watermelon cake.

I think Allan did a pretty darned good job. The group of 20 people were happy with it and isn’t that what really matters? Very good job, Allan.

Student/Customer Precy Iraola changed up the idea a bit by carving flowers for the top of his cake from honeydew and cantaloupe. It makes the watermelon cake even more colorful.

Watermelon Cake by Precy Iraola is made more colorful with flowers carved from honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon.

Here is Precy with his cake. In this one Precy carved the thick green rind to make designs on the side of his cake.

Precy Iraola with another of his watermelon cakes.

Student/customer Deborah Esi Ennin in Germany took the tiered cake idea and layered these watermelon cakes to make this birthday cake for a 60th birthday.

Student/customer Deborah Esi Ennin created this multi-layered watermelon cake for a 60th birthday celebration.

Here is a frilly watermelon cake made by Michelle Malcolm. Pretty isn’t it?

Frilly watermelon cake by Michelle Malcolm.

Here is a simple variation on the ideas where Titi Ayodele set her numbers on the top of her cake to stand up vertically using toothpicks and then surrounded her cake made from watermelon with colorful fruit salad.

Titi Ayodele used the idea taught in Nita’s Watermelon Cakes video instructions, then placed the numbers on top with toothpicks and surrounded with colorful fruit salad.

Do you want to learn techniques for Cakes made from Watermelons?

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing these photos of cakes made from watermelons. You can learn more about my video lessons that teach how to make these watermelon cakes.

Lots more Watermelon Cake Ideas

If you would like to see many more photos of variations on my watermelon cakes, check out these previous blog posts.

www.vegetablefruitcarving.com/blog/carved-watermelon-cakes-beginners/

http://www.vegetablefruitcarving.com/blog/more-watermelon-cake-ideas/

In the next couple of days, I’ll be publishing  another article with more variations on the watermelon cake idea. You’ll see some cakes made from watermelons that are large, wild and wonderful.

Giada in Paradise show – Giada di Laurentiis learns to carve fruit – Photo courtesy of FoodNetwork.com

The fruit carving portion on the show was shot in Phuket, Thailand. Officials at the Siam Carving academy said,

“A beautiful display was carved for the set. It was great experience working with Giada and it was a lot of fun teaching her. I wish we would of had more time since there are so many things to learn about carving. Giada picked things up very quickly.”

I’m looking forward to seeing the show. It will air on Food Network and 8:00 pm Eastern time and 5:00 p.m. in California. Check your program guide for airing time in your location.

You Can Learn Thai Fruit Carving without Traveling to Thailand.

You can learn in the convenience of your own home with my video lessons available on DVD and online. I have an 11 week Vegetable and Fruit Carving 101 Course for Beginners as well as individual DVDs that teach how to carve melons in the Thai style. I was taught by Thai teachers and share on my videos, the Thai carving techniques that I have learned.

Carving techniques for these melons are taught in Nita’s video instructions “Carving Melon Flowers – Smooth and Jagged Petals

These Thai fruit carvings are taught in Nita’s video lessons, Carving Watermelon’s, Smooth and Jagged Petals.

If you want to learn Thai Style melon carving, check out my lessons Carving Watermelons, Roses, Buds and Leaves as well as Carving Melon Flowers – Smooth and Jagged Petals. I recommend the Carving Watermelons video as a prerequisite to the Carving Melon Flowers video instructions.

To see an introductory free lesson showing you how to make a lovely flower centerpiece from radishes, sign up for the free lesson at the top of this page.

With my lessons, you can be doing Thai Fruit Carving (perhaps even better than Giada de Laurentiis) without having to travel all the way to Thailand.

Traveling to Thailand is on my bucket list. But for now, the armchair adventure of Giada in Paradise on TV will have to suffice.

If you miss this airing, of Giada in Paradise, check the Food Network show schedules for repeat airings.

If you’d like to see more articles about Thai Fruit Carving, check out some of my past blog posts.