If cake decorating feels intimidating, I think this easy and beautiful naked cake could be just the solution you’re after!

Cake decorating is one of the most advanced creative endeavors I have attempted. Let me just say, it is so much harder than it looks!!  But, over the years, I have found several tricks to get me through with this go-to cake for celebrations:

Enter the naked cake.

I know, the name sounds a tad inappropriate, but what it really means is less cake decorating for you!

This simple naked cake is easy, delicious and beautiful.

The perfect trifecta, don’t you think?

I have seen variations of the naked cake around the internet for years. They are always my favorites.

How about this woodland cake?

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Or this gorgeous wedding cake . . .

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Gasp, see what I mean?

So, when my 40th birthday began looming, I knew exactly what I wanted for my cake.  Well, actually, I ended up making two cakes because I’m the birthday girl and I can do what I want.(wink)

I admit that turning 40 has been emotional for me at times.  It has made me very introspective these last few months, like New Year’s Eve- times ten.

I have been reading Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist and I realize more and more how much I want live my next forty years more peacefully, more simply. Less motivated by fear and more motivated by love.

The verse

“She is clothed with strength and dignity, she can laugh at the days to come.”

-Proverbs 31:25

has become my theme verse as I step into this next decade.

All that being said, the huge party I always thought I wanted for my 40th was quietly canceled.  I realize how much I really love my family and our sweet, simply celebrations together.

My youngest got up at 5:30 AM to do all the laundry and dishes.  She cleaned the fridge. She tried to hang gold and white crepe paper, but was too short, so it was carefully laid out across the living room for someone taller to finish.

My other daughter ran outside to pick blackberries for my cake.

I took a nap. One of those where you don’t care what time it is, you just wake up when you are finally rested.

My fifteen year old daughter asked my husband to take her to the store.  She went to buy a lemon.  Her plan was to “make lemon water and sit on the porch with Mom for an hour- just talking about whatever we want.”

These are the things I hope I never forget.

 We all ate way too much cake batter that day and have been celebrating in various ways a little every day this week.

So, in honor of turning forty this week and learning more and more how to hold dearly, I am offering my ten best tricks for creating a splendid cake.

Here’s to simple, beautiful celebrations!

10 Tricks to Making a Simple Naked Cake

1. Use a slam dunk recipe. 

   My favorite is this White Velvet Wedding Cake (doesn’t that name just get you!) recipe.  It is made with a boxed cake mix and all kinds of added goodies. It is incredible!  Note- I don’t buy “cake flour”, I make my own.  Here is my go-to buttercream frosting recipe, too.

2. Use different size cake pans for added interest.

   These six inch cake pans are the ones I used for my little cake.

3. Line the bottoms of your pans with parchment paper for easy cake removal.

   Trace around the bottom of your pan and cut about a quarter inch around the inside of your circle, you don’t want the edges of the parchment paper coming up the sides of your pans. Place in the bottom of your pans and grease as usual.

4. Use a leveling tool to make sure each cake layer is perfectly level before frosting.

5. Place the cake on a cake stand for dramatic effect.

   Here are some cake stands I thought you might like. . .[show_shopthepost_widget id=”2778487″]

6. Add four skinny pieces of parchment paper, in the shape of a square, to your cake stand first.  

   After frosting, these will be carefully removed, leaving you a clean cake stand. Pull the two side ones out at the same time, then the top and bottom ones out at the same time.

7. Put the assembled cake in the freezer for 30 minutes before frosting.

8. Use an angled icing spatula to get the smooth top and sides.

9. Put back in the freezer for 30 more minutes.

10. Add fruit, berries, herbs or whatever floats your boat!

So, even if you are new to cake decorating or consider yourself a beginner, this simple naked cake will have people believing you know exactly what you are doing!

 

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