Would you dare to bare? Naked cakes explained...
At The Cow Shed Crail we love anything that sounds a little bit cheeky. So of course we wanted to know more about the popular ‘Naked Cakes’ trend. Who better to ask than one of our lovely suppliers and the crafter of the most beautiful bespoke wedding cakes – Lesley Duncan from The Occasional Cake Company.
Although Lesley has only been in business for three years, she scooped a VOWS Award Nomination in her first year of qualifying in 2015, so she definitely knows what she’s talking about. She is an expert at designing and making naked, semi-naked, buttercream encased and sugar paste cakes. (We’ve been lucky enough to try them and can assure you they’re delicious.)
Here’s what Lesley has to say:
Naked wedding cakes are hugely popular amongst my wedding clients. Like The Cow Shed Crail, naked cakes provide a blank canvas to which your wedding cake supplier can add as much or as little detail, depending upon your preference. They're typically dressed with fresh flowers, fresh berries or a combination of both. And with a last minute dusting of powdered sugar, they're very hard to resist!
They can incorporate different flavours of sponge across the tiers, or the same flavour throughout. Buttercream fillings can be executed as neatly or in a more rustic fashion, again depending on your preference. For food hygiene reasons fresh flowers shouldn't come into direct contact with your wedding cake, unless they're an edible variety and they've been grown pesticide free of course. Professional suppliers will have the know how to use fresh flowers safely on your cake.
They'll also be experts in making sure your naked cake is properly supported internally to avoid any risk of collapse. There is no room for error in creating a naked wedding cake. There are no shortcuts. Simple excellence requires precision. That's one of the reasons why I love making them, and why clients ask me to make the wedding cake of their dreams.
Image 1 and 2: Triple tier naked wedding cake dressed with fresh berries Image credit: Marc Millar photography
Image 3 and 4: Triple tier naked wedding cake dressed with fresh berries and fresh flowers
Image 5: Triple tier naked wedding cake dressed with fresh berries and fresh flowers. Image credit: Emma Gray Photography
Image 6: Triple tier fusion naked and semi-naked naked wedding cake dressed with fresh berries and fresh flowers
Image 7: Cutting the cake
Image credit: Photos by Zoe
