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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
So simple and understabe thank u @Britishgirlbakes
You're very welcome!