“Watermelon” Sherbet Cake

By Kay MacInnis

This is an impressive dessert! It also has the benefit of being light and refreshing.

It may look as though it takes a lot of time and effort, but it doesn’t! The calorie count and fat content are not too bad – for a dessert – although the carbohydrate is a little high… But again, this is a dessert.

But if you want to be extra good, you could cut some of the calories, fat and carbohydrate down by leaving out the “seeds” (mini chocolate chips) and making it a seedless watermelon, but then you would also be losing some of those wonderful flavanols that may have benefits for vascular health.

Try having this at a midsummer party and see how you impress your family and friends! This is a great finish to a meal of chicken or turkey BBQ. Shhhhh… If you don’t tell, they may not know that you are trying to improve their health – starting with dessert!

Ingredients:

• 1 pint lime sherbet, slightly softened
• 1 pint pineapple sherbet, slightly softened
• 1½ pint raspberry sherbet, slightly softened
• ¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Line a serving bowl with plastic wrap.
• Spoon lime sherbet into the bowl, smoothing it out to be ½-inch thick along the sides, making the watermelon rind.
• Place bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes or until hardened.
• Repeat with pineapple sherbet.
• Stir the chocolate chips evenly into the raspberry sherbet.
• Scoop the raspberry sherbet into the sherbet shell, smoothing off and leveling the top.
• Return bowl to the freezer until hardened.
• To serve, invert the bowl onto a serving plate. Lift off bowl and remove plastic wrap.
• Freeze again for 1 hour if the sherbet is too soft. Slice pieces like a watermelon.

Yield: 8 servings

Nutritional analysis: 1 serving (½ cup) equals 205 calories, 4 grams fat , 8 mg cholesterol, 60 mg sodium, 43 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams protein.

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This is another in a weekly series of healthy recipes from Kay MacInnis, registered dietitian at Providence Hospitals in Columbia.

Kay works in Health and Wellness at Providence, helping cardiac and diabetes patients eat their way to healthier lives. She’s not a chef herself, but in consultation with the actual chefs at Providence, she’s learned a lot over the years as she has worked to help patients help themselves after they leave the hospital.

She also conducts a number of health and wellness events for the public, including the monthly Providence Cooks! classes. There will be no class in July

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