Today we’re baking, designing, and styling naked cakes. I’m sharing my tips for decorating a naked cake, a video showing you how, the vanilla cake recipe I used, plus plenty of inspiration for you to get started. There’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get right to it!
What Is a Naked Cake?
Naked cakes, with zero to minimal frosting on the outside, expose the cake layers and filling. This rustic-chic cake presentation has been popping up everywhere on the wedding, baby shower, bridal shower, and party scenes. Milk Bar owner Christina Tosi is credited with starting the trend back in 2013 when she began highlighting the cake layers, instead of just the frosting. Now naked cakes are a bakery staple! A stunning addition to any celebration, naked cakes are perfect for Easter, Mother’s Day, small weddings, showers, and birthdays. What I love about the style is that you have creative control. You can decorate the naked cake in your own unique way, which makes this recipe 100x more fun. If interested in making a tiered cake, try my simple homemade wedding cake!
Two Types of Naked Cakes
There are 2 types of naked cakes. The cake in today’s photos is called a semi-naked or “half dressed” cake. There’s a minimal amount of frosting swiped around the sides. So in other words, a semi-naked cake is a crumb-coated cake. Or you can simplify the design even further with a true naked cake. This means the sides of the cake are bare like my fresh berry cream cake. Both styles are simple, approachable, and beautiful.
Overview: How to Make a Vanilla Semi-Naked Cake
Let’s focus on a semi-naked cake because that’s how I decorated the cake in today’s photos and video.
Vanilla Naked Cake Video Tutorial
5 Tips for Homemade Naked Cakes
3 Helpful Tools for Decorating
Here are a few tools I find especially helpful for decorating a semi-naked cake.
Mix and Match Cake and Frosting Recipes
Mix and match the below cake flavors and frostings to create your own unique naked cake. Cake FlavorsThese cakes are all pretty moist, so I wouldn’t worry about them drying out—especially if you choose the semi-naked/crumb coat look.
Vanilla cake (below) Chocolate cake German chocolate cake Strawberry cake Banana layer cake Lemon cake Carrot cake Red velvet cake Spice cake (see recipe note for layer cake) Pumpkin cake (see recipe note for layer cake)
Frosting Flavors
Vanilla buttercream (below) Cream cheese frosting Chocolate buttercream Strawberry buttercream Lemon buttercream Peanut butter frosting Rainbow chip frosting
Helpful tip: Freeze any leftover frosting for up to 3 months and thaw in the refrigerator for next time.
Naked Cake Decoration Ideas
I recommend starting simple, then adding from there. The possibilities are endless! Here are some of my favorite decorations to use:
Fresh flowers. Use flowers that haven’t been sprayed with pesticides. Avoid strong-smelling flowers as the smell may linger on the cake. And if you can find edible flowers, that’s even better. Fresh berries or any fruit. Smaller sweet treats like candies, cookies, meringues, and chocolates Candied citrus Nuts or seeds Fresh herbs Cinnamon sticks Sprinkles
Of course you’ll need a cake stand to show off your stunning masterpiece! Here are a few I love: wood slice cake stand (similar to what I have), white cake stand, and marble cake stand. Get creative, let your inner cake artist shine, and most of all… have fun!
See Your Vanilla Naked Cakes!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
