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Hi! I'm Emily and I'm going to show you how to make a beautiful semi-naked cake
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like this one. The beauty of a semi-naked cake is that it has the same rustic look
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as a naked cake but the thin layer of frosting seals the cake, locking in the
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moisture so your cake doesn't dry out. First, make sure your layers are pretty
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Trim the tops so every layer is level. Since your frosting is going to be very
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very thin, every imperfection will be visible so you want your layers to be
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the same thickness and sitting level on top of each other. Place your first layer
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on a cake board, securing it with a spoonful of frosting. Now add your
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filling. If your semi-naked frosting is going to be white, you'll probably want
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the filling to look white as well so you can put whatever filling you're using in
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the centre of the cake and then pipe a ring of white frosting around it
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Try to place each layer exactly on top of the one below so your cake sits
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straight. You can also pipe the ring and then apply the filling inside the ring
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but it's a bit more fiddly so I prefer to do it the other way around
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After you've built your cake, check it from every angle to make sure the layers
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are lined up straight. I'm making a three-tier cake so I'm starting by
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building all three tiers. This one has white filling so I'm not
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bothering with the ring of white buttercream around the edge. I'm just using my offset spatula to spread the filling all the way up to the edges of
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the cake. If you're finding this tutorial useful, please subscribe to my channel. I
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post new cake decorating tutorials every week. Now chill your cake for at least an
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hour in the fridge or 30 minutes in the freezer. This firms it up so it's easier
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to cut. Now we're going to trim the cake so that it's perfectly rounded and has
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smooth sides. Using a serrated knife, trim down to take off the edge of any layer
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sticking out of the cake and then hold your knife vertically to trim all the
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way around the cake. Use scissors to cut your cake board so it's the same size as
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the cake. If your cake has warmed up while you trimmed it, chill it again
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before frosting it. Now use an offset spatula to apply your frosting to your
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cake. I'm starting with my biggest cake tier. Being generous with the frosting
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will make crumbs less likely to pull off on your spatula. It also helps to have a
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cold cake because cold cakes are firmer, so less crumbly. Once you've covered your
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cake with frosting, use a frosting scraper to take off any excess frosting
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You can decide how much frosting you want based on how visible you want the
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cake underneath to be. You can use your frosting scraper to pull frosting from the tops of the sides
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of the cake onto the top surface of the cake or you can use an offset spatula. To
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finish, I like to use my offset spatula with the tip in the center of the cake
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spinning my turntable to smooth out the frosting on top of the cake. If this
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pushes any frosting over the side of the cake, just use your frosting scraper to
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go around the sides again. When your cake is frosted, leave it on the turntable and
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put the whole thing in the fridge to chill again. This way, when you lift the
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cake off the turntable, it will be cold and the frosting will have set, so you
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won't smudge the frosting. I'm moving my biggest cake onto a cake drum, which will
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be the base of my three-tier cake. I'm following the same technique to frost my
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next two tiers. And now I'm going to stack them using boba straws as a support structure. For
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more details on this, watch my tutorial How to Stack a Tier Cake. I was
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impatient and I didn't chill these cakes after frosting them, so you can see that
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where I lifted them off the turntable, the frosting stuck to the turntable and
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got messy. Don't worry if this happens, it's easy to fix later. You can try to
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touch it up with an offset spatula, but I'll show you an easier way in a minute
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Make sure your cake is chilled before trying to touch it up, otherwise you
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might smudge more of the frosting. Use a piping bag fitted with a small round tip
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or a flat tip and squeeze the frosting out around the base of the cake. Then use
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a frosting scraper to smooth the frosting against the side of the cake
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Please like this video if you found it helpful and subscribe to my channel to
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get more cake decorating tips and techniques. And now you can decorate it
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Try a drip or watch my tutorial on how to decorate a cake with fresh flowers
