Naked cakes are a great way to really show off beautiful cake layers and delicious fillings. Added bonus: they’re really quick to put together! In this tutorial I'll show you how to make a naked cake with various ideas for fillings and decorations.

How to prepare naked cake layers

Let’s start with how to prepare and assemble a naked cake and then I’ll show you different decorating techniques.

After baking your cakes, trim the tops with a serrated knife like a bread knife to level them. Flat cake layers will make a neat, straight cake.

You can divide your layers in half if you want to make them thinner or if you want to have more layers of cake and filling. 

I like to chill my layers in the fridge or freezer before assembling a cake so that they’re firm and easier to handle. They’re also less crumbly when they're cold. If you leave them in the fridge or freezer overnight, wrap them in plastic wrap so they don’t dry out.

I highly recommend drizzling or brushing your layers with simple syrup to keep the cakes moist. Without frosting to cover the cakes, they dry out quickly. To make simple syrup, heat equal parts of water and sugar together until the sugar dissolves.

How to assemble a naked cake

Now it’s time to assemble the cake. I think piped filling looks the prettiest because it adds texture and it’s neater than spreading it.

Choose your piping tips and fill your piping bag or bags. I'm using 1M tips for several piping techniques for this first cake.

To assemble your cake, attach first layer with a dot to a plate or cake stand or cake board. This holds it in place so it doesn’t slide around as you’re piping.

Start piping at the outer edge of each cake layer and work your way in towards the middle. Only the outer edge will be visible after you assemble the cake and by starting your piping with that outer edge, you’ll make sure that that piping lines up perfectly.

Lower the next layer of cake down onto the piping gently and adjust it. Check the cake from different angles to make sure it’s lined up on top of the previous layer. Then push down to attach it to the piping. 

If any crumbs fall down onto the piping you can nudge them off with a toothpick without damaging the piping. 

You don’t need a turntable for naked cakes but it does make the assembly and piping much quicker. Take your time to check each layer is straight and level before piping the next layer of filling.

Tricks for piping on naked cakes

You can use coloured buttercream or flavoured buttercream for piping. If there are any chunks of ingredients like pieces of fruit, those will clog your piping tip. Blend and strain any ingredients like fruit or Oreo crumbs to make smooth buttercream that pipes beautifully. This is an open star tip, an 8B, for these piped rosettes.

Unlike for most cakes, you don’t need a cake board for naked cakes. You won’t be resting a cake comb on it to smooth any frosting, which means the cake doesn’t need to be on a completely flat surface. Instead, you can assemble it on a plate or on a cake stand. 

The dot of buttercream on your cake board, plate, or cake stand is essential. This will attach the bottom cake layer so that your cake doesn’t slide off as you carry it to the table! 

If you’re in a rush, pipe a swirl of frosting with a 1M star tip. Between the bottom layers of cake I like to start at the outside of the cake and work my way in. That way you know the outer ring is going to be really neat and that’s what’s visible after you place the next cake layer on top.

For the top of the cake I start in the middle and spiral outwards because I find that doing it this way makes for the neatest swirl overall. Tadaa! A cake that’s put together in less than a minute!

How to make a naked cake with different fillings

You can use lots of different fillings other than buttercream for naked cakes. If they’re runny, like caramel or lemon curd, they’ll ooze out from between the layers. The solution? Build a dam first. Pipe all around the outer edge of each cake layer to make a dam or a wall so that when you spoon your lemon curd or any other filling within that buttercream, it will stay in place. This deliciousness is my Lemon and Blueberry Cake.

When you’re choosing a filling, consider the consistency of the filling and the weight of the cake layers. Dense cakes weigh more than light cakes and the more layers you use, the more weight there will be on the filling. The filling for the cake below is chocolate ganache piped with a 1A tip. Ganache isn’t as stiff as buttercream but these are my Perfect Chocolate Cake layers and they’re really light compared to denser cakes like carrot cake, so the ganache can support them.

Cream cheese frosting is much softer than buttercream and so is whipped cream. If you’re using one of these, consider leaving a slight dome on your cake layers. Then flip each layer upside down so that the middle of the cake rests on the middle of the filling but the edges of the cake are raised. This way you won’t crush the piped filling. The cake below is my Banana Layer Cake with cream cheese frosting.

I hope you’re confident to make your own naked cakes! Check out my cake school for online courses on hundreds of cake designs and techniques and join my ClubPLUS for access to every MiniCourse, MasterCourse and Live Workshop!

You can also watch a video tutorial on how to make naked cakes!

There's an easy trick to make a cake black without using any food colouring: black cocoa. Available to buy on Amazon, it's a natural way to turn this moist chocolate cake into a stunning black creation, perfect for Halloween! The chocolate flavour provided by black cocoa powder is similar to an Oreo cookie.

How to use black cocoa powder

Black cocoa incorporates best into cake batter when it's in liquid form. By using a black cocoa and water mixture you'll avoid flecks of black, creating a solid, bold black batter instead. Measure the black cocoa powder into a bowl and add twice the amount of hot water and whisk together. Using hot water helps the black cocoa powder dissolves when you whisk it.

Since everything should be at room temperature when you add it to the cake batter, this will then need time to cool. That's why you should prepare the cocoa powder mixture first. While it cools, start preparing the cake batter.

How to make black cake batter

In a mixer with a beater or paddle attachment, mix butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and creamy. It will take about 2 minutes of your butter is at room temperature. You'll notice the mixture get lighter in colour and also fluffier. Scrape down to the bottom of the bowl once or twice during mixing to make sure no butter is stuck at the bottom.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on the lowest speed after each one until it's incorporated into the batter, which will take about 30 seconds. Next, add the vanilla and mix on lowest speed for about another 30 seconds.

In a bowl sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add a third of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and mix on lowest speed until you can't see any clumps of flour in the batter. The batter will be quite thick and will look like this:

Add half of the black cocoa mixture to the mixing bowl and mix on lowest speed to incorporate. Turn the mixer off and scrape down to the bottom of the bowl to mix in any batter that the paddle attachment hasn't reached. Mix again until you don't see streaks of the black cocoa powder mixture.

Add the remaining flour mixture and mix to combine. Make sure you scrape any flour from the sides if t mixing bowl into the batter. Then add the rest of the black cocoa powder mixture, mixing until the batter is smooth.

This is a runny batter, which makes it easy to pour or spoon into pans to bake. The recipe (listed in a printable and Pinnable format below) is for an 8" cake with two layers. If you prefer, after baking and cooling you can divide the cake layers in half horizontally to make four layers.

Bake the black cake layers

Grease the inside base and sides of two 8" pans with butter, oil, or non-stick spray. Divide the batter between the cake pans and bake at 175ºC or 350ºF for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Leave the cakes to cool in their pans for ten minutes. Then use a spatula to loosen cake from the edges of the cake pan and turn the cakes onto a wire cooling rack. Leave them to cool completely before assembling your cake. If you want to make four cake layers, use a serrated knife like a bread knife to divide the layers horizontally.

Make a cake with these black cake layers

Since this cake isn't very sweet it pairs perfectly with my 4 Minute Buttercream. The flavour of the black cocoa cake with vanilla buttercream filling and frosting is similar to an Oreo cookie!

After assembling and frosting this cake you can leave it at room temperature for 3 days or in the fridge for up to a week. If you do refrigerate the cake, leave it at room temperature for at least 2 hours before serving it so that it comes to room temperature, when it tastes the best!

After slicing it, to prevent the cake drying out you can cover the cut side of the cake tightly with cling film or Saran Wrap.

Print or pin the recipe below and when you try it, please leave a review to tell me what you think!

Print

Can I use this recipe for bigger or smaller cakes?

Absolutely! The recipe as written will make two 8" layers, which you can divide in half horizontally to make four layers. You can use the same recipe to bake three or four 6" layers. Adjust the ingredient quantities using the tables below to make different sizes of cakes.

Standard Height Cakes

For standard height cakes of about 4 inches tall, use the ingredients in the quantities listed below and divide the batter into two cake pans.

Ingredients	2-layer 6" cake	2-layer 8" cake	2-layer 10" cake
Hot water	1 cup 235ml	2 cups 475ml	3 cups 710ml
Black cocoa powder	1/2 cup 45g	1 cup 85g	1 1/2 cups 130g
Unsalted butter	1/2 cup 114g	1 cup 227g	1 1/2 cups 341g
Sugar (white, granulated or caster)	1 cup and 2 tablespoons 225g	2 1/4 cups 450g	3 1/2 cups 675g
Eggs	2	4	6
Vanilla extract	1 teaspoon	2 teaspoons	1 tablespoon
All purpose flour (plain flour)	1 1/3 cups 167g	2 2/3 cups 333g	4 cups 500g
Baking soda	1 teaspoon	2 teaspoons	1 tablespoon
Baking powder	1/8 teaspoon	1/4 teaspoon	1/2 teaspoon
Total weight of batter	924g	1848g	2776g
Weight of batter per pan for 2 pans	462g	924g	1338g
Baking time	38 minutes	50 minutes	48 minutes

Tall Cakes

For tall cakes of about 6 inches tall, use the ingredients in the quantities listed below and divide the batter into three cake pans. I find that this makes for the perfect ratio of cake to filling and frosting and it also provides lots of space on the sides of the cake for decorations.

Ingredients	3-layer 6" cake	3-layer 8" cake	3-layer 10" cake
Hot water	1 1/2 cups 355ml	3 cups 710ml	4 1/2 cups 1065g
Black cocoa powder	3/4 cup 65g	1 1/2 cups 130g	2 1/4 cups 195g
Unsalted butter	3/4 cup 170g	1 1/2 cups 341g	2 1/4 cups 511g
Sugar (white, granulated or caster)	1 3/4 cups 338g	3 1/2 cups 675g	5 1/4 cups 1013g
Eggs	3	6	9
Vanilla extract	1 1/2 teaspoons	1 tablespoon	1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon
All purpose flour (plain flour)	2 cups 250g	4 cups 500g	6 cups 750g
Baking soda	1 1/2 teaspoons	1 tablespoon	1 tablespoon and 1 1/2 teaspoons
Baking powder	1/4 teaspoon	1/2 teaspoon	3/4 teaspoon
Total weight of batter	1388g	2776g	4164g
Weight of batter per pan for 3 pans	462g	925g	1388g
Baking time at 350F	38 minutes	50 minutes	48 minutes

I'll have a step-by-step video of how to make my Black Cocoa Cake soon! Subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don't miss it!

I’m going to show you three fun Halloween cake ideas for mini cakes but any of these designs will work on bigger cakes, too!

Jack-o-lantern Halloween cake

To assemble a mini cake you’ll need mini cake layers. I'm using my Very Vanilla 4 inch cakes. Level them using a serrated knife like a bread knife so that your cake will be straight. Divide your cake layers in half horizontally if you want to add filling to the middle. Then assemble the cake on a cake board so it’s on a flat surface. I’ll show you how to transfer the cake to a cake stand or platter later.

You can use whatever fillings you like for these. I’m using my 4 Minute Buttercream tinted with orange gel for this cake because it’s going to be a jack-o-lantern.

It’s always a good idea to apply a crumb coat of frosting to the top and sides of the cake. This is a thin layer of frosting to trap any crumbs that come off the cake. Let that set for 30 minutes in the fridge or 15 minutes in the freezer before applying your final coat of frosting. Once it’s nice and smooth, put the cake in the fridge for an hour or the freezer for 30 minutes. This chills the frosting and makes it firm, which is essential for decorating it next.

Meanwhile, make your own cake stencil using a piece of parchment paper or wax paper or baking paper. Draw a jack-o-lantern face with a pencil, referring to your cake or cake pans to check the size. Pencil is the easiest to use on parchment paper because pen doesn’t work very well on the coating on the paper. Cut the design out and when the frosting on the cake is firm, place the stencil on top.

Spread black frosting over it. I share all of my tips for tricky frosting colours like black frosting in this tutorial. Cover the whole design and then scrape off the excess to smooth it. You want a really thin layer so it doesn’t bulge up from the cake.

Peel the stencil off straight away and voila! A creepy jack-o-lantern!

Mummy mini cake

Next up: a mummy cake. Spread or pipe a dot of frosting on the middle of the cake board and press the first cake layer into that. The dot will set and hold the cake in place while you frost it. This is especially important for mini cakes because they weigh so little that with just a bit of pressure from your offset spatula or cake comb, they’ll slip and slide all over the cake board if you don’t attach them with something. Cover the cake with a crumb coat and let it set. You can speed up the process by chilling it. Then spread a smear of black frosting over the top of the cake. This will stick out from between the mummy’s bandages. Pipe two big dots of frosting for the eyes using a round tip like a 1A or 2A. I used yellow but you could choose green or red or whatever colour you like.

Smooth the dots with an offset spatula. Then dip a toothpick into the black frosting and poke it into each dot. This makes the black centers of the eyes.

I think it’s easiest to pipe bandages around the sides of the cake first. Use a petal tip or a flat petal tip or a ribbon tip. You can hold a petal tip either way around for these, with the narrow part of the teardrop shape facing upwards or downwards. The wide end makes a thicker bandage and the narrow end gives the bandage a more ruffly edge. You can criss cross these if you want to.

For the top of the cake I like to outline the eyes first. You can touch up the lines with an offset spatula to nudge them or smooth them. Then I like to pipe a ribbon around the curve at the bottom of the mummy to create a neat edge.

Fill in the rest of the top of the cake with piped bandages. This is a fun design because it doesn’t need to be perfectly neat, which takes the pressure off as you’re decorating!

Spiderweb Halloween cake

The next of these Halloween cake ideas is a spiderweb cake! Cover a cake with black frosting or dark purple would look great too. Check out this tutorial for black frosting that won’t stain your teeth.

Chill the cake in the fridge for an hour or the freezer for 30 minutes. The frosting will get very firm, which is perfect for this technique. Place a spiderweb stencil on top of the cake. Intricate stencils like this are too detailed to make with parchment paper but you can buy them online. This one is made by Sweet Stamp and you can use my code BGB10 for a discount! Spread plain white frosting on top of the stencil and scrape off the excess with an offset spatula.

Then peel the stencil off to leave a perfectly detailed spiderweb behind!

Now I’ll show you how to add finishing touches and how to transfer these cakes to cake stands.

How to move a cake to a cake stand or platter

For any of these Halloween cake ideas, it's easiest to frost the cake on a cake board. After chilling the cakes so the frosting is very firm you can move it to a cake stand or platter. Slide an offset spatula underneath the cake and all the way around. This loosens the bottom of the frosting from the cake board. Make sure you slice through the dot of buttercream in the middle of the cake board too, since that’s holding the cake in place. Then lift the cake up and move it onto a cake stand!

Here are a few tips for this. Have your cake stand or platter ready, right next to the cake, before you move it. This way you'll have the shortest distance to travel with the cake! After you push your offset spatula underneath the cake, hold it still as your spin your turntable. Push down to make sure the bottom edge of the frosting on the cake stays straight.

You'll need to balance the cake with your fingers as you lift or lower it and that's fine! If you’ve chilled your cake properly, the frosting will be very firm and pressure from your fingers won't damage it.

Add any borders around the bottom of the cake after transferring the cake onto the cake stand. This is a tiny #18 tip for this spiderweb cake:

For this jack-o-lantern cake I’m using a slightly bigger #199 open star tip:

I hope this tutorial has been useful! Tell me in the comments which mini Halloween cake is your favourite! Check out my cake school for online courses on hundreds of cake designs and techniques.

You can also watch a video tutorial on Halloween cake ideas for mini cakes!

I’m going to share my most useful hacks for tinting black frosting and other tricky colours like red and navy.

How to make black frosting

Black frosting is the most common struggle so let’s start with that! There are two secret ingredients here: chocolate chips and cocoa powder. Put the chocolate chips in the microwave for 30 seconds at 70% power. This way they won’t overheat and seize. Then stir the chocolate until it’s smooth with no lumps. Leave it to cool to room temperature.

In a small bowl, add hot water to cocoa powder a little bit at a time. Stir or whisk it until it makes a thin paste with no lumps. I use about 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon of water for every cup of buttercream.

When the chocolate and cocoa are at room temperature, add them to your frosting. I like to do this before adding the milk or cream in my 4 Minute Buttercream recipe. Buttercream made without liquid is much stiffer than it would normally be. The liquid cocoa powder and melted chocolate will thin it out, making it silky smooth and easy to spread or pipe.

Now add black food colouring. I recommend gel colours over liquid colours because they’re much more concentrated. You’ll need a generous squirt of gel but not nearly as much as you’d need if you were using liquid colours. Stir it in and add more if necessary. You’re aiming for a colour that’s darker than grey but not a true jet black.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it for an hour for the colour to develop and darken. Tadaa! A true black frosting!

How to make dark frosting colours like navy frosting

The two hacks for black frosting work for any dark colour of buttercream, like navy blue. Start by adding chocolate to your frosting to darken it. Ideally add melted chocoalte and cocoa powder but you can use one or the other if you don’t have both. The darker the brown you start with, the less colour you’ll need to add later. 

Adding just blue to brown will make a fairly dark blue but to make navy, add some black as well. Alternate between adding blue and black until the colour is almost as dark as you want it to be. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, leave it for an hour and voila! A beautiful deep navy buttercream!

How to make bright frosting colours

If you're struggling to achieve the colour shown on a bottle of gel, you're probably not using enough gel. Gels are concentrated but you do need to use a generous amount for really bright and bold colours, juts like you do for black frosting.

Covering the bowl and letting the frosting rest gives any gel colour a chance to develop. This will make your colours brighter and bolder within about an hour. Look at the difference between this frosting immediately after adding colour and after an hour of resting:

How to make red frosting

Red frosting can be tricky but just like any other colour, start by using a good amount of gel. Then you can make red frosting brighter by covering the bowl to let it rest for an hour. Another hack that works really well with red buttercream is to heat it. This works for other colours like black frosting but I find it the most effective with red frosting. Scoop up no more than a third of the buttercream and microwave it for 10 seconds. It will melt and get much darker.

Add the melted buttercream to the rest of the red buttercream and mix it together. It will look grainy at first because of the melted butter. Leave it to come to room temperature or speed up the process by putting it in the freezer for 5 minutes. The result will be a beautiful deep red frosting that’s silky smooth.

Why does my frosting taste bitter?

A common question is how avoid the bitter taste caused by using lots of gel. As well as limiting the amount of gel you use by using these methods, here's another trick. After tinting your frosting, add clear-coloured flavour to it. You can use clear vanilla or almond extract or even other flavours like lemon or mint (depending on the flavour of your cake of course!) The flavour will disguise any taste of the gel in the buttercream.

All I taste in this cake is almond flavoured red frosting and my deliciously moist Perfect Chocolate Cake!

I hope this tutorial has been useful! I share everything I know about buttercream in my online MasterCourse, The Basics of Buttercream, including how to:

• make it
• flavour it
• colour it
• troubleshoot issues like air bubbles and graininess and yellow buttercream
• check and adjust the consistency for piping and frosting
• frost a cake with super smooth frosting and sharp edges
• store buttercream and cakes frosted and decorated with buttercream
• use it for lots of stunning, unique cake decorating techniques.

Visit my online cake school to take the course or sign up for my ClubPLUS membership for access to every MasterCourse, MiniCourse and Live Workshop!

You can also watch a video tutorial on how to make black frosting and other tricky frosting colours!

Make a heart shaped cake with or without a heart shaped pan using this technique!

How to prepare cake layers to make a heart shaped cake

You can make a heart cake using a round pan and a square or rectangular pan. Notice that your cake layers don't have to be perfect! You’re going to cover them up with frosting so if your cakes crack or crumble, it’s fine!

This is my 6” perfect chocolate cake batter, which also makes a 9x13” sheet cake. I cut it into 6 squares to make 6 heart cakes of one layer each.

Pro tip: chill your cake layers before assembling and frosting the cake. I put my layers in large ziplock bags in the freezer for 15 -30 minutes. You can do this before or after cutting the cakes. It makes them firmer and less crumbly and easier to handle.

You’ll also need 1 round cake for each heart. It should be the same width and height as the square cake. Cut this in half and these will make the two bulges on the top of the heart. 

You can use any filling and frosting for a heart cake. I’m using my 4 Minute Buttercream.

How to assemble a heart shaped cake

Pipe three dots of frosting onto a cake board and press the square cake into one dot.

Spread or pipe frosting along the cut side of the two semi-circles. Then press those into the other two dots on the cake board, pushing them against the square cake to attach them. Voila! A heart shaped cake!

Now cover the cake with a thin layer of frosting, which is called a crumb coat. This will trap all of the crumbs that come off the cake. It prevents crumbs getting into your final layer of frosting. Don’t worry about making it super neat because it’s going to be covered up with more frosting soon. Make sure it completely covers the top and sides of the cake, right down to the cake board. If there is any exposed cake there will be exposed crumbs, which would get into the final layer of frosting.

Put the heart shaped cake in the freezer for 15 minutes or the fridge for 30 minutes. This sets the crumb coat. Meanwhile, tint the frosting for your final layer if you haven’t already done that. You can use the same colour of frosting for the crumb coat and final coat. If you’re frosting several cakes at once like I am, it’s quicker to do a plain white crumb coat and then tint the frosting for each cake after that.

How to frost a heart cake

For the final layer I like to start with the top of the cake. Spread the frosting over the top and over the edges of the cake so that it sticks out. This prevents air gaps later. Spinning your cake on the turntable while holding your offset spatula at an angle will smooth the frosting beautifully.

Now spread frosting onto the sides of the cake. Push the frosting up above the top edge of the cake, making and lip around the top edge of the cake. This will prevent air gaps and give you a super sharp angle around that top edge. 

Now scrape around the heart cake with a cake comb. Start at either the tip of the heart or the indent between the two bulges and spin the cake to smooth the frosting. Make sure you push the comb into the indent between the bulges to really define that part of the heart. If there are any air pockets or indents in your frosting, spread some more frosting over those areas. Then scrape again with your cake comb until the sides of the cake are nice and smooth.

For the top of the cake, push sideways with a clean offset spatula. This pushes that lip of frosting over the edge and then lift it off on your offset spatula. Scrape it into a bowl and wipe your offset spatula clean on a towel or paper towel. Then repeat all the way around the cake. 

By applying a crumb coat of frosting first and letting that set before spreading on this final layer of frosting, you’ll notice that there are no crumbs visible in the frosting.

The technique I’m using in this tutorial is the same technique I would use for any shape of cake. The key points are:

• attach each section of the cake to the cake board and to each other using frosting as glue
• chill your cake layers before frosting them so that they’re firmer and less wobbly
• apply a crumb coat and let it set before applying a final coat
• spread the frosting on the top of the cake so that it goes over the edges
• spread the frosting on the sides of the cake so that it goes up above the top edge
• clean your offset spatula or cake comb after each use

Shaped cakes only take a few minutes longer to assemble and frost than a regular round cake. The result is stunning even before adding any decorations!

I hope this tutorial has been useful! Ask me any questions in the comments and visit my cake school for hundreds of cake designs and techniques!

You can also watch a video of this tutorial on heart shaped cakes:

With a half and half cake you can offer two completely different flavours in just one cake! They’re great for joint birthday celebrations or just to give people two different options.

How to prepare layers for a half and half cake

You’ll need two or four layers. Any even number will work, depending on how tall you want your cake to be. I’m using two marble layers for one half and for the other half, chocolate and banana layers.

Both halves of the cake need to be the same height to make a level cake. Before assembling, stack the layers to see if one side of the cake would be taller than the other. Use a serrated knife like a bread knife to trim any taller layers. Now cut all of the layers in half down the middle.

Prepare your filling and frosting for each half of the cake. I’m using Nutella and dulce de leche for fillings and also mixing them into my 4 Minute Buttercream for the frostings.

How to assemble a half and half cake

The easiest way to assemble your cake is to put some frosting into a piping bag with the tip cut off. If you don’t have a piping bag you can spread it on instead. 

Spread or pipe two dots of frosting onto a cake board. Push half a cake layer into one dot to attach it to the board. Then spread or pipe frosting along the cut edge and press another half of cake into it. It will attach to the cake and to the other dot of frosting on the cake board.

If your fillings are runnier than buttercream you'll need what’s called a buttercream dam. This is a wall around each cake layer to hold in the filling. It prevents the filling from oozing out from between the cake layers. On the chocolate and banana layers I spooned dulce de leche into the dam. Nutella made the perfect filling on the Easy Marble Cake half.

In hindsight I wish I’d chosen flavours that looked more obviously different than these! The chocolate and banana layers are almost the same colours as the chocolate and vanilla marble.

Place the next layers on top to continue assembling your cake. The frosting along the cut edge of each layers is really important. It attaches the two sides of each layer together, otherwise the cake can split down the middle and fall apart. This frosting acts as glue to hold them tightly together. 

Push the two halves of the cake to stick them firmly together and also push down to level the cake.

How to frost a half and half cake

Divide the rest of your frosting into two bowls and add any frosting left in your piping bag, too. Tint each half with a different colour or use different flavour ingredients for each bowl.

Spread a few dots of frosting onto one half and wrap that half with parchment paper. The parchment will stick to the dots. Trim the parchment so it covers only that one half of the cake. Then use the other flavour of frosting to frost the exposed side of the cake. The parchment will prevent that frosting from getting onto the covered half.

It's always a good idea to apply a crumb coat of frosting first. This will trap any crumbs that come off the cake so they don't get into your final layer of frosting. It’s messy but that’s fine because it will be covered up in a minute.

When you peel the parchment off, the frosting will stop exactly in between the two halves of the cake!

Do the same for the top, covering up the other half of the cake with parchment before spreading frosting onto this half.

Then cover up the frosted side of the cake with parchment paper. Spread frosting onto the other half of the cake. Optionally, you can chill the cake before you do this. If you don't, when you peel the parchment off you’ll leave some texture behind on the frosting. Since it’s just the crumb coat (which will be covered up) it doesn’t matter.

Put the whole cake into the freezer for 15 minutes until the frosting has set. To test it, touch it and check that you don't leave any texture in the frosting. Some tiny condensation drops will form on the frosting, which will help parchment stick as you cover up one half.

Spread frosting onto the other half. Apply the frosting more thickly now because this is the final layer of frosting so you want it to be much neater than the crumb coat. Scrape around this half of the cake with a frosting comb to smooth the frosting. Then tidy up the top edge of the cake by swiping the frosting sideways with your offset spatula. Peel the parchment off to reveal a neatly half-frosted cake!

Put the cake back in the freezer for another 15 minutes to set this frosting. Then repeat the process for the other half of the cake, covering this side with parchment and then spreading another flavour of frosting onto the other side. Because the first flavour has set, pressing parchment against it won’t imprint any texture into the frosting. When you peel it off the frosting underneath will look perfect!

Half and half cake decoration ideas

The joins between the flavours are fairly neat but I always like to cover mine with something. For this cake I’m piping some details with two tone frosting, which is easy to make! Fill a piping bag with one flavour on one side and another flavour on the other side. I like to put the piping bag into a glass to hold it open for this.

Then push both flavours down to the piping tip. This is a 1M star tip. These swirls or rosettes hide the join of the two flavours of frosting, and also add some pretty details. If you don’t want to blend the flavours of the two halves, pipe with plain vanilla buttercream in different colours.

Why make a half and half cake?

A half and half cake is a great way to use up extra layers. You might be wondering, "why would I have extra cake layers?" Maybe your batter didn’t make enough to make the size of cake you were planning on. Maybe it made too much so you have one too many cake layers for your cake. In my case, I bake in bulk so I have loads of layers in the freezer to pull out whenever I want to make a cake. Sometimes I’ll end up with one lonely banana or chocolate layer, like these. They're perfect for a half and half cake!

People are always blown away by half and half cakes and excited to see the inside. Although I wouldn’t serve anyone a piece this big, it’s fun to show off the two flavours within one slice!

The possibilities for this are endless - wouldn't it be a fun idea for a wedding cake?! For birthday cake ideas and designs for every occasion visit my online cake school.

You can also watch my video on how to make a half and half cake!

Wondering what to do with leftover frosting? In this tutorial I'll show you nine ways to use it and how to store it for later cakes!

#1 Add a border to your cakes

With just a few spoonfuls of leftover frosting you can pipe a beautiful border. Scoop it up and spoon it into a piping bag fitted with any star shaped tip. Now you can add pretty textured detail to the bottom or the top of the cake.

The smaller the piping tip and the smaller the cake, the less frosting you’ll need. At the bottom of the cake you’ll cover up any air gaps or imperfections between the cake and the cake board or if you pipe a border onto the top of the cake, you’ll give the cake some height and make it look more elegant!

#2 Re-tint frosting 

You can re-purpose leftover buttercream by tinting it another colour. I recommend gel colours because they’re much more concentrated than liquid colours so you’ll make much brighter, bolder colours. Add them a drop at a time to make the colour you want.

Now you can use this leftover frosting to frost or decorate another cake. This teeny tiny cake is a lunchbox cake!

I should mention that for any of these ideas, you can do them straight away or store the frosting for up to two months, which I’ll show you how to do later in this tutorial.

#3 Pipe flowers

Piped flowers can be frozen for a month. All you need is a flower nail, a little piece of parchment paper and a petal tip. I show how to pipe these flowers in this tutorial.

Slide the piped flowers on their parchment paper onto a tray and put them in the freezer until you’re ready to use them to decorate a cake!

#4 Use leftover frosting for a stencil

Some decorative details only need a tiny amount of frosting, like stencils. This is a great way to use up that last little bit of buttercream!

I teach all sorts of unique cake decorating techniques in my online course, The Basics of Buttercream. Join my ClubPLUS for access to every MasterCourse, MiniCourse and Live Workshop!

#5 Make a mini cake

Mini cakes are a great way to use up teeny tiny amounts of leftover frosting. You can make a cake using cupcakes as the layers like I did for this one! Use mini cakes to practice new cake decorating techniques or make someone a thoughtful gift.

#6 Decorate a cake dummy

If you don’t want to bake anything, use a cake dummy to practice smooth frosting or any decorating techniques!

Cake dummies are styrofoam rounds that come in different sizes. After you finish practicing you can wash the frosting off and re-use the dummy to practice another technique!

#7 Make a dessert

Make a dessert with your leftover frosting like a cake sundae. This is also a great way to use domed cake layers you’ve trimmed or offcuts from sheet cakes.

Alternate cake scraps with leftover frosting and add ice cream to make it really decadent! These make a romantic dessert for two or an indulgent treat for yourself.

#8 Decorate cookies

Did you know that you can decorate cookies with buttercream? Buttercream is much less temperamental than royal icing and it’s very easy to pipe. Put the buttercream in a ziploc bag, cut off a corner and then squeeze it to decorate the cookie.

I like to start with an outline and then fill it in with zig zags. You can smooth the buttercream with an offset spatula.

Add sprinkles, edible glitter o colourful sugar to make the cookies even more intricate. They're a delicious snack or party favor. To make cake toppers, bake the cookies on a paper straw and then poke the straw into a cake.

#9 What to do with leftover frosting you want to use later: store it

If you don’t want to use the leftover frosting straight away you can save it for later. Buttercream can be stored for up to two months! Put it in a ziplock bag, seal it, and freeze it. You can store it in the fridge for 2 weeks if you prefer.

When you take it out, leave it for a few hours to thaw. Then squeeze itinto a bowl and stir it to knock out any air bubbles so it's smooth. Now it's ready to use!

This is really useful for black and red buttercream, which take a lot of time and gel to make. I store even small amounts of leftovers to use for future cakes, when having those colours ready saves a lot of time!

It’s useful for even a few spoonfuls of frosting because sometimes you only need a bit of a certain colour for a design. Instead of tinting it from scratch you can just pull it out of the fridge or freezer when you need it!

Ziplock bags are an easy way to store the buttercream and you can cut a hole in one corner to squeeze the buttercream into a piping bag or ziplock bag to use for decorating. This is a bento box cake from my tutorial on 4 ways to make lunchbox cakes:

You can of course store plain white buttercream too, not just colours. I like to make double batches of my 4 Minute Buttercream, which is the biggest batch that will fit in my mixer and then store what I don’t need until I make another cake. You’ll need big, gallon ziplock bags to fit an entire batch of buttercream. Once it thaws you can cut off a corner and squeeze it out into a bowl, ready to use!

I hope you’ve found these ideas useful. Please share any of your ideas with everyone else in the comments!

You can also watch a video of this tutorial on what to do with leftover frosting:

Struggling with condensation, piping bag fails, messy lettering and crumbling cake? Read on to find out how to avoid and fix these common cake mistakes!

#1 Poked cakes

I think this one has happened to everyone! You put lots of time and effort into getting really smooth frosting and then - oops! You poke a finger into the cake by mistake!

Spread some more frosting over the damaged area to cover the hole or holes. Don't worry about adding even more texture to your cake for the moment.

Now scrape around the cake with a cake comb to smooth the frosting again. This will make the sides neat but it will push a bit of buttercream up above the top edge. Swipe sideways with an offset spatula or cake comb to tidy that up. Your cake will look as good as new!

#2 Dented cakes

If you poke or dent the frosting after it sets you can add a detail over that area. This cake mistake has happened to me countless times when I try to squeeze too many cakes into my fridge!

A texture detail is ideal because spreading fresh frosting completely flat against frosting that has set is almost impossible. You’d never know there was a big dent underneath this textured frosting and sprinkles!

#3 Ugly borders

If you pipe a border onto a cake and decide you don’t like it, there’s an easy fix. This solution only works if the frosting on the cake has set. (It’s always a good idea to chill the cake before piping a border so that the frosting gets firm and can support the weight of the piped border without drooping.) When the frosting has set you can easily scrape off any borders you don’t like. The frosted cake will hold its shape and won’t get damaged but the freshly piped border will slide straight off! Now that the cake mistake is removed, you can leave the top of the cake plain or pipe another border.

#4 Piping tip bursts out of piping bag

If the hole in your piping bag is too big for your piping tip, the tip might burst through it. This is especially likely if the frosting is stiff so you have to squeeze the bag quite hard to pipe it.

A quick fix for this cake mistake is to drop that tip into a new piping bag with a slightly smaller hole cut at the end. Then drop the entire piping bag (the one filled with frosting) into the new piping bag and continue piping!

#5 Frosting squirts through holes in the piping bag

If you reuse your piping bags you’ll notice that eventually they get holes in them. Your frosting will squirt through those holes while you’re piping.

To prevent this, wipe the frosting off the outside of the piping bag so that the bag is clean. Then stick tape over the holes and the tape will stick to the clean plastic or canvas.

Then you can finish piping without making a mess! I show how to decorate this piped rainbow cake in this tutorial.

I have hundreds of free tutorials on my YouTube channel with a new one added every week. If you want to deep dive into learning hundreds of cake designs and techniques, visit my online cake school. I have a CLUBPLUS membership option which includes access to every MasterCourse, MiniCourse and Live Workshop! Start your free trial now 🙂

#6 Stencil cake mistakes

Sometimes you decorate a cake with details or a design you don’t like or a stencil doesn’t work properly. This is a homemade parchment paper stencil, which I show how to make in this ice cream cake tutorial. It peeled away from the cake before I was ready and it smudged the edge of the shape:

As long as the frosting on the cake has set you can scrape the design off without damaging the frosting underneath. Then you can try the stencil again or use a different design to decorate the cake. 

#7 Messy lettering

Writing on cakes can be tricky. If you don’t like your letters you can tidy them up with a toothpick. Nudge the letters to lengthen or adjust lines or widen the holes in letters like E or A.

Always do lettering on a cake that has been chilled so the frosting is firm. That way, if you don’t like the letters you can scrape them off without damaging the frosting underneath.

#8 Imperfections in frosting

If you have air bubbles in your frosting or an obvious join in a stencil design, cover them up. You can be strategic with where you pipe details to hide those imperfections. Here I’m using piped flowers to cover up the messier parts of my stencil design:

#9 Buttercream dries out

Buttercream dries out when it’s exposed to air. If there’s a gap between preparing piping bags and using them, the frosting at the tip of the bag will crust. It won’t be sticky anymore so it won’t work for piping.

There’s a very quick fix for this cake mistake: squeeze the bag to push out that first bit of hard buttercream. The buttercream left in the bag will still be soft and sticky and ready to pipe with! To prevent this from happening, cover your piping tips with cling film or Saran Wrap when you’re not using them for long periods of time and the buttercream won’t dry out.

#10 Cake crumbles

If your cake layers crumble or pieces break off, use buttercream as glue to attach the broken pieces back onto the cake. After pushing the piece where you want it to go, put the cake in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Buttercream gets very firm when it sets so it will secure the broken piece there while you frost your cake. The frosting will hide the cake mistake. By the time you’ve finished decorating you’ll never know it’s pieced together like a puzzle inside!

#11 How to fix condensation on cakes

One of the most common problems for cake decorators is condensation on their cakes. These tiny droplets form for two reasons. The first is a drastic change in temperature. This happens if you move a cake from the fridge or freezer to a hot room. Dab the condensation gently with a paper towel to absorb it and as the cake warms up the droplets will stop forming.

To prevent condensation, change temperatures gradually. Move cakes from freezer to fridge for 24 hours before moving them to a cool room.

The second cause of condensation is the moisture in the fridge or freezer. After chilling a cake to set the frosting, wrap it in cling film or Saran Wrap to seal the cake. This will protect it from moisture in the fridge. When you take the cake out of the fridge, unwrap it straight away while the frosting is still cold and firm and you won’t damage it.

I hope these quick fixes for cake mistakes have been useful! Learn more techniques, designs, tips and tricks on the British Girl Bakes cake school. Tell me in the comments about your cake fails that you’re ready to look back and laugh at!

You can also watch a video of this tutorial on 11 quick fixes for cake mistakes:

This lemon and raspberry cake is packed with lemon in the cake layers, filling, and frosting! Juicy raspberries are baked into the cake layers and placed on top of each slice for maximum flavour.

How to make lemon cake layers

Making the cake layers for this cake is very straightforward. Cream the butter and sugar together until they're fluffy, which makes a light cake that rises well. Then grate lemon peels with a zester or the fine side of a cheese grater. This makes thin slivers that don't add texture to the cake but they do provide lots of flavour.

Add the lemon zest to the butter and sugar while you’re creaming them to infuse them into the base of the cake batter. This will make the cake layers really lemony.

Add the eggs one by one, mixing for about 30 seconds after each one so that they incorporate properly. Add vanilla and mix that in, too. Whisk together the flour and baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add half of that to the batter, mixing only until it’s just combined. When you don’t see any flour in the batter anymore, stop mixing! Then add the milk and sour cream, mix those in, and then the rest of the flour mixture. 

Divide the batter between three greased baking pans. I like to line my pans with parchment paper for this recipe to make sure the cakes come out easily. Set aside 8 raspberries and divide the rest between the cake pans, nudging them into the batter with a spatula. I like to add the raspberries now instead of mixing them into the batter in the mixing bowl for two reasons. You won't break the raspberries down this way, so you'll see beautiful whole raspberries in each slice. Also, you can put the same number of raspberries into each pan for an even distribution throughout the cake.

Bake the cake layers at 325F or 160C for 30 minutes. When the centers don’t wiggle when you jiggle the pan, the layers are ready. As a double check, a toothpick pushed into the middle should come out clean. The recipe listed below makes a three layer, 6 inch cake but you can scale the recipe by clicking the "X2" or "X3" buttons. Double the recipe to make a three-layer 8 inch cake.

Let the cakes cool completely while you make the filling and frosting.

How to make lemon curd

Lemon curd is easy to make if you’re patient enough to let it cook slowly. The ingredients are simple: lemon juice, lemon zest, butter, sugar, and eggs. Put all of the ingredients into a small saucepan over a low or medium low heat, depending on your stovetop. By cooking lemon curd very slowly and gently you’ll prevent lumps so your lemon curd will be beautifully smooth.

It takes about 30 minutes to cook lemon curd over a low heat. If you’re in a rush, buy a jar of lemon curd instead! But homemade lemon curd is one of the best tasting things I’ve ever had so if you have time, I really recommend making it from scratch. You’ll notice the curd thicken gradually and your whisk will start to leave texture behind in it. To test it, dip a spoon into it and check the back of the spoon. The lemon curd should cling to the spoon and if you run your finger through it, it will leave a clear trail.

Pour the curd through a sieve into a bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap, pushing the plastic down onto the surface to prevent a skin forming on the curd. Put it in the fridge and it will thicken as it cools. 

How to make lemon buttercream

Now make lemon buttercream to frost the cake. Mix together room temperature butter and powdered sugar or icing sugar on the lowest speed setting of your mixer. After about 5 minutes it will be smooth but very thick or stiff. Add vanilla and salt and mix those in. Normally you’d add milk or cream to thin it out but instead, add the cooled lemon curd. Start with two tablespoons and mix that in and check the consistency. Continue adding a tablespoon of lemon curd at a time until the buttercream is easy to stir and your spatula leaves soft peaks in it. If you add too much liquid you’ll make the buttercream runny and it will slide down the cake when you frost it.

Spoon some of the buttercream into a piping bag without a piping tip. You’ll use this for the filling in the cake in a moment.

How to assemble this lemon and raspberry cake

To assemble your cake, pipe a dot of lemon buttercream on the middle of a cake board. Press your first cake layer into that and the dot will hold it in place when you frost it later. Spread a thin layer of buttercream onto the cake and then pipe a ring of buttercream around the outer edge.

This is called a buttercream dam and it holds the lemon curd in place. This way it won't ooze out from between the cake layers. If you love lemon curd, try my Lemon and Blueberry Cake, too!

Place the next cake layer on top and repeat. The thin layer of buttercream on each cake layer stops the lemon curd absorbing into the cake. Instead, it will sit on top and you really notice it when you bite into the cake. 

How to frost this lemon and raspberry cake

Cover the cake in a thin layer of lemon buttercream to trap any crumbs that come off the cake. Then put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 15 minutes to set that layer of frosting. Spread another layer of frosting on top, which will be crumb free. Since this is the final layer of frosting, it’s worth taking your time to get the sides smooth and the top flat and level. I teach in LOTS of detail how to frost a cake in my online courses The Basics of Cake and also The Basics of Buttercream. Sign up on my cake school or join my ClubPLUS for access to every MasterCourse, MiniCourse and Live Workshop!

To decorate this cake, use those 8 raspberries you set aside earlier. Arrange the raspberries around the cake, placing them opposite each other to space them evenly. Scoop up the last little bit of lemon buttercream and put it into a piping bag fitted with a star tip like a 1M tip. Now pipe swirls or ruffles in between the raspberries.

By counting the number of times you go back and forth and keeping that number the same for each ruffle, all of your piping will be the same height. 

How to store this lemon and raspberry cake

Lemon curd needs to be refrigerated so keep this cake in the fridge if you make it the day before. Take it out 2-4 hours before your serve it so that the cake and frosting comes to room temperature, when it tastes the best! I LOVE the cross section of these slices! The pairing of the sweet lemon buttercream with the tangy lemon curd filling and juicy raspberries is absolutely perfection!

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Watch the video of this Lemon Raspberry Cake recipe tutorial:

These lunchbox cakes are an adorable, delicious treat and they’re easy to make! I’ll show you how to make these with cupcakes, mini cake pans, and sheet cakes.

#1 Bento box cake

Let’s start by making a cake that fits perfectly in a bento style lunchbox. Bake a sheet cake or any other shape of cake and let it cool. Press one of the sections of a lunchbox down into it, like cookie cutter.

Push the cake down to the bottom of the lunchbox container and brush off any crumbs. Now it’s ready to frost and decorate!

I like to pipe my 4 Minute Buttercream onto these but you can use any kind of frosting. Smooth it with an offset spatula or choose piped texture instead.

To personalize your lunchbox cake with a message all you need is a spoonful of frosting. Put it in a piping bag with small round tip or, even easier, a sandwich bag! Cut a little piece off one of the bottom corners and then squeeze the bag to write your message.

I’ll show you lots of ways to decorate these lunchbox cakes throughout this tutorial. One of my favourites is to pipe different colours of frosting onto a piece of plastic wrap.

Roll it up into a log and cut off one end. Drop that end down into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and squeeze colourful rosettes all around the edge of your cake.

Put the container back into the lunch box, snap the lid on, and it’s ready to go!

You can eat this right out of the lunchbox with a fork. It’s perfect to take to school or work or on a picnic or wherever!

#2 Make lunchbox cakes with mini cakes

If you have 4” cake pans you can bake mini cake layers in those. Use a serrate knife like a bread knife to trim the tops off so that they’re flat. Divide the cake in half horizontally to make two layers so you can put filing in the middle.

Cut a square of parchment paper or wax paper or baking paper that’s just big enough to fit the cake. Place the first cake layer on that. For runny fillings, pipe a ring of frosting around the outer edge of the first cake layer. This is called a buttercream dam.

Now spoon your filling into the middle. These dams are perfect for fillings like jam, lemon curd, caramel and Nutella. Lower the next cake layer on top.

Pick up the cake by pinching opposite corners and move the cake into food container. I like to decorate these lunchbox cakes inside the container so that you don’t accidentally damage them by moving them later.

Piping is a quick and easy way to cover the tops of these cakes. I piped these rings of frosting kisses with a 1A round piping tip. Add some sprinkles to jazz it up if you like.

You can spread frosting to cover the top instead, which is easiest to do before putting the cake into the container.

I piped this border using an open star #32 tip.

By making your cakes just big enough to fit into the container they won't slide around when you carry them. These are fun and delicious treats to enjoy anywhere!

#3 Make lunchbox cakes with a sheet cake

If you don’t have a mini cake pan you can bake a sheet cake or any shape of cake instead. Then use something round that’s about 4 inches wide to cut out your layers. A large round cookie cutter is ideal or even the rim of a glass will work.

You can assemble and fill these cakes just like cakes baked in mini pans. However, the edges of the cake aren’t caremelized and sealed like they are when you bake them in a pan. This means the cake won’t stay moist for as long. If you plan to frost onto the top of the cake, cut the layers out of the sheet cake as close to serving as possible. The other option is to frost the entire cake so it doesn’t dry out.

Mini cakes are tricky to frost because they’re so lightweight so they don't hold their place very well. You can attach the cake to a cake board with a dot of buttercream, which will act as glue. The put the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes. The dot of buttercream will set and hold the cake in place as you frost it. Cold cake layers are firmer and less crumbly and wobbly than when they’re at room temperature so after being in the freezer for just 15 minutes, the cake will be much easier to frost. After frosting the cake, put it back in the freezer for another 15 minutes. This will set the frosting. Then slide an offset spatula or knife underneath the cake to lift it up off the cake board. Balance it with your fingers if you need to and lower it into a food container.

Meringues are really easy to make and they look so pretty on these lunchbox cakes! Since the cake is sealed with frosting it will stay moist for longer than naked cakes.

#4 Cupcake cakes

The quickest and easiest version of a lunchbox cake is to use a cupcake. Peel the wrapper off and put the cupcake in a plastic cup that's the same width as the cupcake. The cup will protect the cupcake and keep it upright when it’s inside a lunchbox.

Put some frosting in a piping bag with a star tip like a 1M tip and pipe as swirl onto the top of the cupcake. Stop before the top edge of the cup so that the cup protects the entire swirl. If you want to add sprinkles add them now, while the frosting is still soft and sticky.

Then after packing a lunchbox, arrange the cup so that it’s surrounded by things that will keep it in place. The cup will protect those things from damaging the frosting. It also makes the perfect little bowl for this yummy lunchbox cupcake!

Which lunchbox cake are you going to make? Tell me in the comments!

Visit my cake school for online courses on hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs and join the ClubPLUS for access to every MasterCourse, MiniCourse and Live Workshop on my cake school!

You can also watch a video of this tutorial on lunchbox cakes 4 ways: