Watermelon Angel Food Cake with Honey-Lime Yogurt Sauce

Watermelon angel food cake is an easy dessert recipe that’s perfect for summertime. And the best part is it’s made with just 3 ingredients: angel food cake mix, watermelon puree, and lime. It’s sweet and zesty and tastes a-maz-ing topped with fresh berries and honey-lime yogurt sauce.

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You’re going to love this

So. Dang. Easy. Just whiz up some watermelon in a blender or food processor, add it to a box of angel food cake mix, zest and squeeze a lime and that’s it. You’re rewarded with a cake that does not look or taste like it came out of a box!

Watermelon. Baking with watermelon should be more of a thing than it is. The puree, anyway. Because when you blend it up, it becomes like water -- but really sweet tasting, refreshing water. We should be using it in more places. 

Light summery dessert. When it’s your turn to bring dessert for the potluck, this is a great one. First, it’s pretty. Right? I mean it’s pink so it automatically qualifies. Second, people will ask, what is this? Then you can tell them how you just decided to use watermelon instead of water in the cake mix. 

Now you know how to make agua fresca. Agua fresca is a drink made from blended watermelon. You can add water, sweetener, and lime if you want. But it’s also great on its own. The first time I heard of agua fresca was from a woman I worked with who was from Mexico. Her family drank it all the time and I was blown away that watermelon would turn into water just like that. Thanks, Blanca. 

How to make watermelon angel food cake

Preheat the oven to 350. 

Blend cubes of watermelon until you get 1 ¼ cups of puree. Add puree and the zest and juice of one lime to one box of angel food cake mix. 

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Mix on low to combine the ingredients, then increase speed to high for a minute. Mixture should be light and fluffy. 

Place mixture into an ungreased angel food cake pan. Bake according to the package instructions, usually 35-45 minutes. The top should be quite brown with dry cracks. 

After you remove it from the oven, immediately turn it upside down. Balance the pan on something that will support the cake while it cools. Sometimes a bottle works. I use a pan that has feet on it. 

Make the honey-lime yogurt sauce. Stir together one cup of plain Greek yogurt, ¼ cup honey, 1 tablespoon of lime juice and one teaspoon of lime zest.  

Serve the cake with the honey-lime yogurt sauce and fresh berries. Garnish with lime zest or finely chopped fresh mint. 

How to Cut Up a Watermelon

Cubing a watermelon used to take me sooooo loong. Probably because I had no real plan of attack. I just hacked away at it until everything was in relatively small pieces. Then I saw Ms. Carla Hall on The Chew take down a watermelon in seconds flat. I was amazed and now cutting up a watermelon is no big whoop. 

Here’s how I do it. 

Cut the watermelon in half. Then cut the halves in half. Take a quarter of the watermelon and make even vertical cuts about an inch apart, just until you reach the rind. 

Next, make even horizontal cuts about an inch apart, basically creating a grid. 

Finally, follow the curve of the rind with your knife to release all your pretty cubes.

Hungry for more angel food cake recipes?

Strawberry Angel Food Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

2-Ingredient Orange Angel Food Cake with Honey Ricotta

Recipe Essentials

Nordic Ware Angle Food Cake Pan

If you've ever made an angel food cake before, you've seen the instructions to immediately turn the pan upside down as soon as you remove it from the oven. They usually go on to explain how you can use a bottle to do this -- that is, precariously balancing this giant pan over the mouth of a bottle. I have a). never found the right size bottle or b). when I found a bottle that came close to the right size, ever had luck getting the pan to stay in that position for hours. So I got this pan that has feet on it. Honestly, we should get a petition going to get all the other angel food cake pan makers to just put some d$%^ feet on all the pans.

Cuisinart Mini Food Processor

Turning watermelon into puree takes about one second in a food processor or blender. I don't have a blender, instead I use this mini food processor for everything I would use a blender for. I love that I can use it for everything from chopping nuts and making graham cracker crumbs to whipping up creamy dressings and a single-serve smoothie.