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How to Make a Semi Naked Wedding Cake
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Sep 6, 2024
Semi-naked cakes are a popular choice for weddings and baby showers. Follow this step by step tutorial to make a semi-naked tier cake for your celebration or someone else's! *Start your FREE 7 day trial on my cake school https://britishgirlbakes.teachable.com/p/all-you-can-cake/ *LEARN The Basics of Cake and The Basics of Buttercream in my most popular online courses! https://britishgirlbakes.teachable.com/ *My 4 Minute Buttercream recipe https://www.britishgirlbakes.com/recipes/buttercream-frosting/ *My tutorial on Testing Amazon Cake Tools https://youtu.be/C361kMlcJq0 *READ a written version of this tutorial (with photos!) https://www.britishgirlbakes.com/how-to-make-a-semi-naked-wedding-cake/ *SUBSCRIBE to my channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every week! *SAY HI!
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0:00
Semi-naked cakes are a popular choice for weddings and baby showers and with a few tips they're easy to make
0:05
I hope this tutorial gives you the confidence to make a semi-naked cake for your celebration or someone else's
0:15
I'm going to make a two-tier cake, but you can use these same instructions to make a three-tier cake
0:20
or just a single, stand-alone semi-naked cake. For tier cakes, I recommend at least two inches difference between each tier
0:27
I'm using 6 inch and 8 inch pans and I'm making three layers for each cake
0:33
This is my perfect chocolate cake and the recipe is on British Girlbakes.com
0:37
After baking and cooling, it's important to level cake layers for semi-naked cakes
0:42
This makes the cake straight and gives it a neat outline. You can buy wire levelers to help with this step
0:48
but I tested one for a tutorial on Amazon cake tools and I don't find it worthwhile
0:53
I've put the link for that tutorial at the end of this video. Now, before you start making the cake, there are two things to check to set yourself up for success
1:02
First, the consistency of your butter cream. It might be less stiff than normal. It should be easy to stir
1:07
and your spatula should leave a smooth trail behind in the bowl. Having the right consistency
1:12
minimizes crumbs pulling off the cake. The second thing, which is really important, is that the
1:17
cake layers are chilled. Cold cake layers are easier to work with because they're less crumbly than
1:22
room temperature cake layers, which will make the cake easier to assemble and frost neatly
1:27
I wrapped these in cling film or plastic wrap and left them in the freezer overnight
1:31
which I find is ideal for semi-naked cakes, but even just 30 minutes is long enough to make a difference
1:37
When you have your buttercream and cake layers ready, assemble your second tier
1:41
The reason for doing the second tier first is that you're going to touch it when you stack the cake
1:46
so you want to give it the most time possible to set and harden in the fridge
1:50
This is a thin cardboard cake board with a grease-proof lining. A material you can cut easily is ideal
1:57
Start with the board the same width as your cake layers. Spread a bit of buttercream onto the middle of the board and this acts as glue
2:04
So when you press your first cake layer onto it, it will stick to it. Now you can pipe or spread your filling and I'll spread it for this tier and pipe it for the next to show you both options
2:14
Since the cake is cold, you won't pull up lots of crumbs as you spread this and also the cold cake will chill
2:20
and set the dot of buttercream down on the cake board, and that will hold the cake securely in place
2:25
so it doesn't slide around on the cakeboard as you spread the filling, or the frosting later
2:30
Line up the next cake layer, so it's directly above the first, getting down to eye level and spinning the cake
2:36
to check that the sides are straight all the way around, and then add your next layer of filling
2:40
I using my four buttercream to fill and frost this cake but I teach all sorts of fillings and frostings in my basics of cake and basics of buttercream online courses which you find on my cake school on British Girl Bakes
2:53
If the filling is sticking out from the sides of the cake, spread that to flatten it
2:58
Once the cake is assembled, if the layers are still cold, you can move straight on to frosting it
3:03
If not, put the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes or the fridge for an hour first
3:07
I like to start with the top of the cake, spreading the frosting all over and pushing it over the edges
3:13
to make a neat, sharp angle around the top of the cake later. Smooth the frosting by spinning the cake on the turntable and holding your offset spatula at a 45-degree angle
3:22
and then swiping it off the cake to take the excess frosting off with it
3:26
Since the cake is on a board the same size as the cake, frosting the sides will be tricky unless you put the cake on a bigger cake board
3:33
using a non-slip mat to hold it still. spread the frosting from side to side around the cake
3:39
pushing it up above the top edge so that you can make that sharp angle later
3:43
Since the buttercream is softer, then you might normally use to frost a cake
3:47
the slip would sink down instead of standing up like this, but because the cake is cold, it chills the buttercream quite quickly
3:54
and that makes it much firmer as it sits there. Go all the way down to the bottom to cover up the entire cake
3:59
and be generous with how much frosting you're spreading on, because although this is going to be a semi-naked cake
4:05
by making a thick layer of frosting and then scraping off the excess, you'll minimise crumbs in the frosting
4:10
rather than trying to spread the frosting very thinly, which will pull off more crumbs from the cake
4:16
Scrap around the cake with a straight-edged cake comb, and to get smooth semi-naked frosting
4:20
after every few scrapes around the cake, you'll need to spread more frosting over any indents
4:25
and then scrape again, which will fill in any imperfections and also scrape off excess frosting
4:30
leaving a nice smooth layer behind. For the top edge, push sideways with your offset spatula
4:36
to push that lip of frosting over onto the top of the cake and then swipe it off on your offset spatula
4:42
Now put the whole cake in the fridge to set this frosting while you make the bottom tier
4:47
You'll need a cake drum or another thick, sturdy material for the board at the bottom of the cake
4:51
since it needs to support the weight of the whole tier cake. Assemble the bottom tier the same way as normal
4:57
attaching the first layer of cake with the dot of bar. buttercream and then alternating between fillings and cake layers. To pipe the filling onto the
5:04
cake, spoon it into a piping bag with the end cut off, or you could use a round piping tip
5:10
Pipe around the edges of the cake and then spiral inwards to the middle, and then use an offset
5:14
spatula to spread the piped buttercream so that it covers the whole top of the cake layer
5:18
in a flat, smooth layer. Then place the next cake layer on top. Spin the cake to check that the layers
5:24
are lined up straight on top of each other and push down to secure the top layer and then repeat If you chilled your cake layers before assembling the cake it important to work quite quickly because the filling will set quite quickly and then it won be sticky
5:37
You want to place the next cake layer on top before the filling sets so that the cake will attach
5:42
to it. After placing the final layer, I like to use one of these spirit levels to check that the
5:48
cake has a flat top, which is especially important for the bottom tier because you want the next
5:53
tier to sit level and straight on top of it. You can push down on one side of the cake if it's higher than
5:58
the other, and it will sink further down into the filling on that side to level the cake. Check the cake
6:04
from the sides, and you can see that my top layer is wider than the other two. It was a test cake
6:09
for some silicon baking pans, which are also in my tutorial on testing Amazon cake tools. And since
6:14
it's a bit bigger than the other layers, it's important to trim it so that the sides of the cake are
6:18
straight. You can do this with a serrated knife like a bread knife. If I didn't trim this, I didn't trim this
6:23
I'd have to spread the frosting on very thickly over the bottom part of the cake
6:26
to make it as wide as this, to create straight sides, and then the cake wouldn't be semi-naked
6:31
at all. Once the bottom tier is assembled, if the cake layers are already chilled, you can frost it
6:37
straight away. For this tier, I'll show you how to pipe the frosting onto the cake. I like to
6:41
pipe a ring around the bottom of the cake first, since that's the trickiest part to get to with your
6:46
offset spatula, and then zigzag around the rest of the cake. Then you can use your offset spatula
6:51
to spread it easily to cover up the whole cake. And since the frosting is already on the cake
6:56
as you spread it, it should glide instead of sticking and dragging crumbs with it. To recap my tips
7:02
for neat semi-naked frosting, make sure your cake is cold so it's firm and less crumbly than a
7:06
room temperature cake, check that your buttercream isn't too stiff to spread easily
7:11
and use more butter cream than you think you need, which minimises the crumbs coming off the
7:15
cake and getting into the frosting. Scrape around the cake with a cake comb to smooth the frosting
7:20
and spread more frosting over any indents to fill those in. Scrape around again and do more touch-ups as you need them until the frosting is smooth
7:29
Tidy up the top edge and this bottom tier will be ready. But don't rush ahead and place the second tier on top yet
7:35
Put this cake into the fridge for now. Before stacking the cake, there are a few small steps to do in preparation
7:42
Take the second tier out of the fridge and the frosting should be cold and firm so you can touch it without damaging it
7:47
If the cake board is sticking out below the cake, because it's a bit bigger than the cake
7:52
trim the cake board now. Since the cake is cold, you won't smudge or indent the frosting as you do this
7:58
Angle your scissors so that you're cutting right up to the edge of the cake, so the board is flush with the cake
8:03
Now put this cake onto the bottom tier for just a moment and centre it
8:07
and trace around the edge with a toothpick or an offset's bachelor to mark where it's going to be eventually
8:12
Then put the top tier back into the fridge The bottom tier needs to support the cake above it And to do that I like to use boba straws because they wide and strong and easy to cut to size Push one into the bottom cake within the line
8:26
you scored so that it will be underneath the top tier, holding it up. Push it about an inch in
8:31
from the line and push until you feel it hit the cake board. Pinch the straw at the top of the cake
8:37
pull it up and cut at the point you pinched so that the straw is the height of the cake. Now hold this
8:43
straw against three more straws and trim all of them to be the same length so that you have four
8:47
identical sized straws. Push the first straw back into the first hole and push the other three
8:55
straw opposite the first straw and then the other two opposite each other two to form a square formation
9:01
about an inch within the line you scored. Use the handle of your offset spatula to push them right down
9:06
to the bottom of the cake and then spread some more frosting over the top which will act as glue to attach
9:11
the next cake. Take the second tier out of the fridge and lower it onto the bottom tier
9:16
adjusting it so that it's centred on the cake on top of those four straws. If you haven't already
9:22
click the subscribe button for a new cake decorating tutorial every week. Now there's an obvious join
9:27
between the two tiers, and you can see the cakeboard in between it, but that's easy to cover up now
9:33
Use some frosting in a piping bag, with the end cut off or with a round piping tip
9:37
and pipe a ring of frosting around the cake to cover up that seam. I like to spread it with an offset's bachelor to push it into the gap between the two tiers
9:46
and then use a cake comb to scrape around the cake. Taking off the excess frosting you just
9:50
piped on and smoothing it against the cake, until it's not noticeable, but it's concealing the
9:55
cakeboard and any gaps in between the two cakes. Now you can decorate the cake however you like
10:01
There are so many ways to decorate semi-naked cakes. I'm going to use fresh flowers for this one
10:07
I'm making little bouquets of flowers that I've already washed and let dry, and I'm wrapping the stem
10:11
in cling film or saran wrap to prevent any floral juices leaking out
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Then I'm pushing each bunch into a boba straw, using the parts that I cut off from the support straws
10:21
and I'm t each straw so it's just as long as the stems, and then pushing the straw with the flowers into the cake
10:28
It's easiest to use scissor blades to push the straws in that last little bit
10:32
without accidentally poking your fingers into the frosting. Store your semi-naked tear cake in the fridge until transporting it
10:38
or until four hours before serving it. If you've enjoyed this tutorial, subscribe to my channel for a new cake decorating video every week
10:45
and visit my cake school on British Girlbakes.com for hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs
10:51
Join my Club Plus for access to every mini-course, master course, live workshop and five-minute Fridays
10:57
Thanks for watching
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