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Naked cakes are a great way to show off beautiful cake layers and delicious fillings
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and they're really quick to put together. Let's start with how to prepare and assemble a naked cake and then I'll show you different decorating techniques
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After baking your cakes, trim the tops with a serrated knife like a bread knife to level them so that your layers are flat
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and these will make a neat, straight cake. I like to chill my layers in the fridge or freezer before assembling a cake so that they're firm and eat
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easy to handle and they're also less crumbly. If you leave them in the fridge or freezer overnight
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you should wrap them in cling film or saran wrap so that they don't dry out. You can divide your
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layers in half if you want to make them thinner or if you want to have more layers of cake and filling
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I highly recommend drizzling or brushing your layers with simple syrup to keep the cakes moist
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because without frosting to cover the cakes, they dry out quickly. Simple syrup keeps them moist for longer
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and you make it with equal parts of water and sugar, heated together. until the sugar dissolves. Now it's time to assemble the cake. Prepare your filling and I'll
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show you different options for each of these cakes. I think piped filling looks the
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prettiest because it adds texture and it the neatest Choose your piping tips and fill your piping bag or bags and I show you lots of piping variations throughout this tutorial
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To assemble your cake, attach the first layer with a dot to a plate or cake stand or cakeboard
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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
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and work your way in towards the middle, since only the outer edge will be visible after you assemble the cake
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and by starting your piping with that outer edge, you'll make sure that that piping lines up perfectly
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Lower the next layer of cake down onto the piping gently and adjust it
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checking the cake from different angles to make sure it's lined up on top, and then push down to attach it to the piping
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Have a toothpick handy so that if any crumbs fall down onto the piping
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you can nudge them off without damaging the piping. There are endless ways to pipe filling
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For this cake, I'm using a 1M tip for a few different techniques. You don't need a turntable for naked cakes, but it does make the assembly and piping much quicker
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Another nice thing about naked cakes is that you don't need a cake board
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because since you won't be resting a cake comb on it to smooth any frosting
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the cake doesn't need to be on a completely flat surface. So you can assemble a naked cake on a plate or on a cake stand instead This is an open star tip an 8B for these piped rosettes You can use flavoured buttercream for piping
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but if there are any chunks of ingredients in it, like pieces of fruit, those will clog your piping tip
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Blend and strain any ingredients like fruit or Oreo crumbs to make smooth buttercream that pipes beautifully
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Always use a dot of frosting to attach the bottom cake layer so that your cake doesn't slide off as you carry it to the table
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You can use fillings other than buttercream for naked cakes, but if they're runny, like this lemon curd, they'll ooze out from between the layers if you don't build a dam first
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Pipe all around the outer edge of the cake to make a dam or wall so that when you spoon your lemon curd or any other filling, within that butter cream, it will stay in place
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This deliciousness is my lemon and blueberry cake, and the recipe is on British Girl Bakes.com
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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
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and 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
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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 Tadda a cake that put together in less than a minute You don have to use buttercream for naked cakes but when you choosing a filling consider the consistency of the filling and the weight of the cake layers
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whether it's a dense or light cake, and how many layers are going to be weighing down on the filling
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This is chocolate ganache, which isn't as stiff as buttercream, but these are my perfect chocolate cake layers
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and they're really light compared to denser cakes like carrot cake, so the ganache can support them
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The recipe for my perfect chocolate cake is also on British Girlbakes.com
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Cream cheese frosting is much softer than buttercream, and so is whipped cream
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If you're using one of these, consider leaving a slight dome on your cake layers
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and then flipping each layer upside down so that the middle of the cake rests on the middle of the filling
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but the edges of the cake are raised, and that way you won't crush the piped filling around the edges
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I hope you've learned a lot and that you're confident to make your own naked cakes. Check out my cake school for online courses on hundreds of cake designs and decorating techniques
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and join my Club Plus for access to every master course, mini course and live workshop
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The link is up here in the top of the screen and in the video description or go to Britishgirlbakes.com
