This Elegant Naked Cake Is Perfect for Frosting Haters

You may have heard of a trend in cakes (specifically wedding cakes) lately. This trend is "naked cakes," which involves putting minimal amounts of frosting on a cake and making up for the lost frosting by embellishing the cake with colorful and often stunning flowers and fruits. After seeing how cool these cakes looked, I wanted to try my hand at making (and eating) one. However, I consider myself to have a basic set of cooking skills, so I stuck with a basic naked cake recipe that pretty much anyone could make. 

Naked Blue Velvet Cake

• Prep Time:30 mins
• Cook Time:25 mins
• Total Time:55 mins
• Servings:12
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Crisco
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 ounce blue food coloring
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tub icing
• Fruit or flowers for garnish if you're feeling daring

• Step 1

  Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour 2 cake pans (8 or 9 inch).

  

• Step 2

  Mix Crisco, sugar, and eggs (using a wooden spoon helps).

  

• Step 3

  Mix food coloring and cocoa together, then add to the previously made mixture.

  

• Step 4

  Add salt, flour, buttermilk, and vanilla.

  

• Step 5

  Gently mix in vinegar and baking soda.

  

• Step 6

  Bake for 25 minutes.

  

• Step 7

  Decorate!
  
  #SpoonTip: Make sure both cake and frosting are cooled, this will make things easier.

  

My naked cake was definitely far from perfect, but it turned out much better than I had initially hoped, because baking has always been something that is especially difficult for me. I can follow recipes exactly and the end result will be under-cooked, the wrong color, and taste weird. However, this cake turned out great—it was moist, spongy, and sweet enough to stand partially naked. This was definitely a fun and messy recipe!