Naked cakes are all the rage. It's this absolutely incredible multi-layered cake where the icing isn't the star, the actual cake is. A cake that goes easy on the frosting, but not so easy on the toppings. An absolutely stunning pile of macarons, petals, berries, and more will make this cake the star wherever you take it.
And that's what we're gonna make today, a lightly frosted, really beautiful rosemary olive oil cake that is literally made from a box mix, and not only a box mix, a gluten free box mix. I wanted a little denser of a cake, because I was going to add in ricotta and olive oil to make a gorgeous, Italian inspired cake. Whether you're helping a friend plan a budget wedding bash or just trying to create a stunning dessert for your next party, this naked cake is surprisingly simple, absolutely delicious and the perfect way to show that you are the Pinterest queen.
Here are some of my favorite food styling tips from this episode:
Baking Tips
The secret to buttercream is the first word. BUTTER. If you are using a pound of powdered sugar, you need ½ pound of butter.
A touch of bourbon adds caramel flavor to buttercream.
For a denser cake, use a gluten free cake mix.
Olive oil adds a little touch of robust savoriness to the cake to counteract the sugariness of the frosting.
Naked Cake Styling Tips
Place each cake layer upside down on a plate. The reason for this is that the top sometimes bubbles a little bit, and I want the cake to be as flat as possible. If there's not a crazy rise, I'll actually flip the cake upside down, because we always just get a little more flatness this way in order to create that beautiful layered look that we want in our cake. Place the top layer of cake rounded side up for that beautiful rounded look on top.
Frost between every layer and frost the top as you would any other cake.
Frost the outside edges of the cake very, very lightly. Imperfection here is beauty, embrace it. It does not have to be symmetrical or even.
DO make sure the cake is centered on the plate.
Cake Toppings
Make your own meringues, little teeny tiny ones out of royal icing. These are so easy to make. Use meringue powder from your local craft store, make a royal icing recipe, and pipe them into little meringues. They add this beautiful, super special little touch right on top of the cake.
Decorate the center of your cake so it's slightly higher than the edges, and start piling and arranging all your really fun toppings so that it looks like cake on the bottom, party on the top.
Top the cake with little macaron cookies in a variety of colors. The ones that I've picked are all pastels.
Use some berries for color and texture. For fun texture, slice your strawberries in half and intersperse them with whole strawberries.
Top the cake with edible flowers. I’m using eye-catching roses, but you can also use begonias, fruit tree blossoms, carnations, chrysathamums, clovers, citrus blossoms, cornflowers, dahlias, geraniums, hibiscus, hollyhock, honeysuckle, nasturtium, pea flowers, peonies, pansies, tulip, thyme, viola, violet, and more!
- 2 (15 oz) pkgs Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Cake Mix
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups ricotta
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1 Tbsp butter flavoring
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon Maldon sea salt
- nonstick baking spray
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp clear vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 2-4 Tbsp milk
- fresh berries
- macaron cookies
- meringue cookies or stars*
- edible flowers (lavender, eucalyptus, etc)
- fresh mint leaves