It was Valentines Weekend and Savy kept begging to make a “butiful cake for grama Jack”. Family was coming into town and, not only did I need to organize all the kid’s Valentines for school, but the entire house needed to be cleaned. So what did we do? DUH, we baked a cake! Click through to see just how easy making this cake is, and to print the recipes for the yummy boxed cake that tastes homemade and the delish buttercream frosting!
To see this rest of this naked cake tutorial click through to read more!
I discovered this recipe years ago (used it here on these super yummy Easter cupcakes) and it’s literally one of my favorite cake recipes. It’s so yummy and so easy I find myself grabbing for this recipe before a lot of the other homemade cake recipes I have. You really can’t beat the convenience! All you do is replace the oil for butter and the water for buttermilk, or in my case milk and lemon juice because I didn’t have any buttermilk on hand. You bake the cake according to the package directions and that’s it! It’s so easy your four-year-old can make the entire thing… while you take pictures of her being adorable of course.
^^ It’s really important that you spray a non-stick spray all over the entire cake pan and then add parchment paper. I just traced around the bottom of the pan with a pencil and cut it out. This is going to help the cake come out of the pan easier which is very crucial when you’re not frosting the entire cake!
^^ Can you see a difference between the left and the right cakes? The left is the correct way to put the cake in the oven… the right is obviously the wrong way ha! All you need to do is hold the pan with both hands, 9 and 3, and then tap it on the counter for a minute or so. This is going to help any air bubbles come to the surface. This just helps the cake bake a little more evenly so you don’t waste of much!
^^ Every cake I bake I cut the top off. This will help the cakes to lay flat when you’re stacking them… obviously haha! I bought this cutter at Michaels a long time ago and I loooove it. You can also put your cake in the fridge for a few minutes and then slice through it with a serrated knife. I like to wrap my cakes up and put them in the fridge; it helps cut down the crumbs when frosting.
^^ Uhhhh… don’t mind how messy our vanilla is… insert monkey-covering-the-face emoji here! It’s butter and vanilla, creamed together, and then add powdered sugar. Lots of powdered sugar. When you’ve added all the powdered sugar, it’ll look a little dry and that’s when you add either your milk or whipping cream. Just enough to get it to the consistency that you want, it’s usually a couple tablespoons-worth.
Time for the assembly!
You’re going to take a big scoop of frosting and lay it in the center of your cake. You could alternatively use a ganache instead of frosting, and I wanted to add some fruit but Brian didn’t get home in time. Then, just push the frosting to the sides of the cake making sure to never let your knife touch cake. If you do, you’ll pull up crumbs. Which wouldn’t be the end of the world because you’re covering the layers with more cakes but you’ll want to get a feel for how to avoid the crumbs before you reach that top layer.
^^ Brian brought me home some flowers after work on his Costco trip (ugh I love him so much) and because it was dark, I waited until the next day to finish the cake — juuuust for you! Make sure to cover it really well if you do this because the sides aren’t sealed with frosting so it will dry out!
^^ See the plate? This is where I designed how I wanted the top to look. I just cut a few flowers off and played around with it until it looked how I wanted. I am by no means a florist so this part was just a total guess! Going from the plate to the cake will require a few changes but you simply press the stems into the cake. For having zero time, I think this cake makes one big statement and it was sooo delicious. I didn’t have a big piece because I’m on my diet but I definitely cheated for a slice!
I hope you enjoyed these recipes/tutorial. Let me know if you try it and what you think about the cake!
- 1 c. butter, softened (not melted)
- 1 1/2 t. real vanilla
- 5 c. powdered sugar
- 2-4 T heavy cream
- Cream butter, add vanilla. Then add your powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time beat well. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl often. When all powdered sugar is added, frosting will appear dry. Add cream or whole milk and beat on high until light and fluffy.
What size cake pan did you use?
What a gorgeous cake but you shouldn’t just poke flowers into a cake flowers can be poisonous
It’s not safe to place flower stems inside the cake.
We took the flowers all the way out of the cake before cutting into it 🙂
Love the cake! Wondering how many box cakes did you use for a 3 layer naked cake? I’m planning on making this weekend and wondering if 1 or 2 boxes would be adequate. Thanks
I was wondering the same! Because whenever I split one box between two pans the layers are sooooo thin!
So these pans are the small ones, I think they’re 6″? So one box does one cake, and the layers are a good size!!
This is adorable! My mom made a beautiful naked cake for my birthday last month! It was an hombre style, each layer getting a lighter shade of teal/green as it went up, topped with purple and white flowers. So pretty I didn’t want to eat it!
So delicate and beautiful! I’d love to try this out.
Beautiful cake but I have to ask…do you just stick the stems in the cake…or cover them since they may not be clean enough to put inside the cake?
I was going to ask about whether or not the florals were organic, but I see in the other comments that this has been addressed. Thank you for posting this simple tutorial you ve made it look so simple that I m going to give this a try! Beautiful cake!
Making this for my Grandmother’s 94th birthday, which is in a few weeks. She deserves something awesome and unique. I can already hear her saying “it’s too pretty to eat”!
Perfect cake for spring and all those baby showers I have coming up! Thank you for the tutorial…can’t wait to try it out!
https://www.lavendersblush.com/
THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!
So fun! I’ve been doing more baking this year, so this is perfect! Thanks for sharing!
Have a great weekend!
Allison https://allisons-eye.com/
This cake is gorgeous and I actually think I can make it!! Thank you for sharing!!! And these photos are stunning by the way!
Rachel
Simply Rachel Nicole
It’s so pretty! This looks just like the naked cake I had made for my wedding! Tip though- do not put it in the fridge or it will dry out since the sides aren’t protected by frosting. Our caterer stored our wedding cake in the walk in cooler and it was hard as a rock to cut through!
The cake is so pretty and looks easy to make! I can’t wait to try this out. Happy Friday!