These market-inspired fruit slice cakes I made for our farmer’s market birthday party were such a fun hit this summer.
Nothing says summer party like the bright reds and oranges of my favorite fruits made into a cake.
I love an individual fruit cake for serving at birthday parties, brunches, and showers.
Instead of a larger cake, make these fruit slice cakes. They’re a simple way to plate your sweets individually at the next summer party.
Fruit Slice Cakes Recipe
Equipment
- 1 12×17 sheet pan
- Parchment paper
- Wax paper for templates (parchment paper is ok too)
- 6 Small ziploc bags
- 1 Knife
- 6 Ramekins/small bowls and plastic spoons to mix food coloring and frosting
Ingredients
- 1 box cake mix we used french vanilla or your favorite cake recipe
- 2 cans of white frosting 14-16oz
- 6 tubes of food coloring red, orange, green, blue, as well as black, and pastel yellow if making lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Grease and lightly flour the pan.
- Make cake batter according to recipe instructions and pour the batter into pan, evenly distributing it. Bake in oven for 17-20 minutes, keeping an eye on the cake. Remove and let cool.
- Prepare your fruit cake templates by printing out the fruit cake template sheet to create these simple fruit shapes. Cut out the fruit shapes. Also cut pieces of wax (or parchment) paper slightly bigger than each fruit cake shape. Lay a template over wax paper and cut out the shape of the fruit. Repeat with other fruit cake shapes.
- Start in a corner of the cooled fruit cake. Lay the wax paper template over the cake and use it as a guide. Take a knife and gently slice around the outline to create the fruit shape. Remove wax paper template and use again, or discard. Repeat with the other shapes. On a 12×17 pan we fit 2 strawberries, 3 lemons, 2 watermelon slices, and 3 orange slices. With an offset spatula, gently lift each mini cake from the pan and place on another piece of parchment to frost.
- Remove as many loose crumbs from each fruit cake, using your fingers or a small brush. Apply a crumb coat to each mini cake, frosting the top and sides. After this initial frosting, place cakes in fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Take cakes out of fridge and apply final coat of frosting.
Notes
Decorate Cakes To Look Like Fruits
Follow the guidelines below to make the colors of the frosting for each fruit that I used.
The number in parentheses indicates the drops of each color needed per 1/2 cup white frosting.
Mix the food coloring well with the frosting.
- B = blue
- R = red
- G= green
- Y= yellow
If you’re making the lemon, feel free to use yellow from a standard box of food coloring. It will turn out more like royal gold. If you want a softer shade that looks like mine, use pastel yellow food coloring like this one.
Watermelon: red (55R), green (23B + 39G)
Strawberry: red (65R)
Orange: orange (6Y + 2R)
Lemon: pastel yellow (10-15 drops pastel yellow)
You can use about 1/4 cup of white frosting for the following fruit cake designs.
Decorate a Watermelon Slice Cake
Seeds in watermelon and strawberry: mix in 10-15 drops of black coloring for the seeds.
For the watermelon fruit cake, first frost with red frosting, leaving a sliver of cake at the bottom for the “rind.” Then, frost the rind with green frosting.
Decorate a Strawberry Cake
For the seeds in the watermelon and strawberry, spoon black frosting into a small Ziploc bag. Seal and snip a corner of the bag. Press the frosting towards the opening and twist the end of the baggie. Squeeze a drop of frosting to make “seeds.”
Decorate an Orange Slice Cake
Outline for orange slice: white frosting (no food coloring).
For the outline on orange slice fruit cake, spoon white frosting into a small Ziploc bag. Seal and snip a corner of the bag. Press the frosting towards the opening and twist the end of the baggie. Continuously squeeze the frosting to outline the orange slice, then make the lines inside the slice.
Photography by Athena Plichta.