Naked cakes are rustic and beautiful, and require half of the effort of frosting a cake completely! Follow these exact tips below to create your own elegant naked cake design!
A naked cake is exactly what it sounds like, an undressed cake! You’ve likely seen one at a wedding or party, decorated minimally with flowers or greenery. The idea was popularized back in 2013 by Milk Bar owner, Christina Tosi who sought to let the flavors of the cake show for themselves on the outside! Now bakers and cake designers everywhere thank Christina for this genius idea because, I’ll let you in on a little industry secret, it’s probably the easiest cake design you could make!
In order to make this naked cake design you will need–
Frosting, cake and 10 minutes! It’s really that simple.
Start with chilled cakes.
For the best results, use cake layers that have been chilled in the fridge or (preferably) the freezer. When the cake is chilled, it binds together better which will make for less crumbs in your final result. A naked cake is basically just a crumb coat but because there will be no more layers of frosting, you want as few actual crumbs as possible.
Level the cake layers properly.
Before frosting, make sure to level your cake layers evenly. When frosting a cake normally, there is room for some error if your cake is a bit crooked. Since the naked cake is the final result, you’ll want to pay extra attention to leveling the cake layers evenly.
Fill the cake with more frosting than normal.
I normally fill my cakes with about ½ inch of frosting for the perfect ratio of cake to frosting with my 2 inch cake layers. However since there will be minimal frosting on the outside of the cake, I recommend filling the cakes with about ¾ inch of frosting in the middle.
Other than cake and frosting, you will need a large offset spatula and a bench scraper or putty knife to complete this naked cake design. Find a full list of tools here if you are unfamiliar with these items.
Follow the above steps and you will have a gorgeous naked cake, ready to be decorated with flowers, greenery, candy, ganache drips, anything you want!
If you are more of a beginner and want a step-by-step guide on how to frost a cake, check out my blog post with detailed instructions on the process! To achieve the naked cake look, you will follow the steps in that post all the way through the crumb coat, then you’re done!
Can baking be therapeutic?
I often talk about baking being a therapeutic hobby but I’d like to share more about why I feel that way as well as how it can become a relaxing hobby for you!
When I bake, it’s my creative time. I may put on my favorite nostalgic movie or tv show in the background, or a Spotify playlist titled “French café” and leave my troubles behind.
Sometimes I pour myself a glass of wine and light a candle. Then, with the mood set, the mixing of batter, kneading of dough and smoothing of icing is my only care in the world.
When I say baking is therapeutic, sometimes people respond saying “not for me it isn’t!” I completely understand why someone might feel that way. There have been plenty of times where I spend hours on something only for it to fail or something breaks that shouldn’t or I forget to clean as I go and am left with a disastrous kitchen to clean.
So I should in reality, have a caveat to my “baking as therapy” claims…
Baking is therapy when you curate the experience to be relaxing.
How do you curate that relaxing experience for yourself, you ask?
How to make baking therapeutic…
- Prepare your mind–know that it’s okay if the cake doesn’t rise, or the butter wasn’t chilled enough. Shift your mindset from seeing your failures as mistakes to seeing them as opportunities for learning.
- Prepare your space–I cannot and will not bake on top of a messy kitchen. If I were to do this I would be starting from a place of stress! Take an extra 10 minutes to clean any dishes in the sink and wipe down the counters, this small effort will pay you back greatly in brain space and clarity.
- Clean as you go! I’ll tell you the one way to make baking stressful and tiresome, is to not clean as you go! After I use each ingredient that I no longer need, I put it away.
After each major step in the process, I wipe down the counters and put dishes that are no longer needed in the sink. If there is chill time or baking time I don’t sit, I do the cleaning then. Make this shift and you’ll really notice the difference!
By the way, this last tip really helped me when I was on The Great American Baking Show–and the crew that cleaned up behind us made a point to tell me that my workspace was always so clean they didn’t have much to do!
I would reply by saying “it’s how I stay sane in this tent!”
Additional suggestions:
*Maybe try printing off the recipe instead of looking at it on your phone, tablet or laptop and use this time to unplug from technology for a few hours
**Invite friends or family over to share your creation with you. Time spent with loved ones over food is a universally special experience
And that’s how I discovered baking for my mental health. If you try any of these suggestions, let me know how it went for you! I’m really invested in spreading this message to others in hopes that baking will enhance your lives more than it already does!
Happy Decorating!
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