Storyboard Wedding Why It Works Wednesday

For today’s Why It Works, we are stripping down to our bare selves, our naked self, in the form of an utterly gorgeous {& delicious!} wedding trend, The Naked Wedding Cake!  Perhaps you don’t know exactly what I am talking about but rested assured, you’ve already seen at least one or two.  Naked cakes are those that go sans frosting around the sides of the cake {frosting in between layers is certainly fair game!}, leaving the appeal of the cake to be in its natural, uncovered beauty of the spongy goodness of the cake itself.  The beauty in this design, the color of the cake itself can set a tone and influence the look and feel that your going for, another fun way to bring something to life!  Vanilla cakes & those with a lightly colored cake batter, volia, a blonde naked cake!  Conversely a chocolate cake, or any other dark battered cake will get you a wonderfully moody sultry treat!  My favorite part to naked cake designs is that the fun does not stop at just the beauty of the cake alone, the other side to the naked cake’s beauty is in it’s fillings & toppings, in the form of frosting, berries, caramel, honey, natural blooms and so much more!  There is a limitless amount of creative elements that can be put together, while the real value is that these frosting shedding cakes can easily transcend a number of different wedding themes & styles!

Fall Naked Cake With Apples and Blooms Naked Guinness Chocolate Cake via Little Box Brownie

Fillings & toppings are most certainly part of the beauty to the naked cake, adding to the over all aesthetic and elegance of their appearance.   Whether things are kept clean and precise in between the layers or muddled throughout, there is no wrong way to go about creating the naked wedding cake.  A great thing about the naked cake is that it comes with its one recommended accouterments to decorate the area around your cake!  Got a cake with fresh fruit throughout, create an area around the cake that looks as if you had just whipped it up on the spot and your elements of baking are still left around!  We all know how striking the hues are to berries, how muddled & cool apple skins look, even nuts or sauces make for some food photography heaven, take that gorgeous styling right with you into your wedding day, perfectly styling the area around the cake to compliment the fillings & toppings!

Petite Naked Cake Vanilla & Lilac Flowers Rustic Vintage Naked Wedding CakeNaked Wedding Cake Figs via Love and Lavender

Another real treat to the naked cake is the their size ability.  Whether your a fan of a more towering creation or a proponent of the petite gateau, these babies easily transcend all diameters and heights.  Perhaps something that the naked caked has over their frosting covered friends, is their ability to handle drastic changes size of diameter, stacked with more layers {see top right},  which thanks to the lack of frosting make much better sense when the viewer is able to see each layer for itself.  If a layer, on a more traditional frosted cake is too exaggerated, the act of covering it in frost only reinforces the oddity to it, more or less making it look off.  The beauty of the visible layers is that each is unique unto itself, with only its blemishes & imperfections to see which are the very thing we adore so much about them!  Whether there is not a touch of frosting what so ever on the edge, or a sweet white wash look, playing with the size of them only serves to reinforce how amazing they truly are working to highlight each and every detail!

Naked Wedding Cake Birthday Cake from Momofuku Milk Bar Naked Wedding Cake Carmel Drip Naked Berry Cake with Rosemary via Style Me Pretty

Naked cakes aren’t anti-frosting, so please don’t think that, they just utilize frosting in a different way.  Basically frosting is oh so very much your friend when it comes to the naked cake!  A brilliant way to really get playful with your bare cake design is to vary not just the amount {height} of the frosting/filling in between layers but to actually cut into the cake itself creating a much less perfect and much more naturally found look!  Going for a tall stack, stack your frosting just as high as the cake, want something more playful and unique, cutting the tops & bottoms of the cake layers into a more rugged path allowing the frosting to really fill into those nooks & crannies {thanks English muffins!} creating a slice of the earth look!  All this wonderful cutting and shaping of the cake layers themselves would be all for not if it weren’t for the whipped frosting to fill the spaces in between defining each cut & style!

Naked pink ombre wedding cake via Ruffled Blonde Naked Cake Wrapped In Lace

The real beauty to the naked cake is the feeling that they evoke.  We often fight words like homey & comfortable, interpreting them to meaning something negative and bland, but the truth is, there is something utterly wonderful, homey & down right comfortable about these rustic natural looking cakes.  There is an honesty, a bare it all ness to them.  They are what they are and they are beautiful because they are not dripping in fondant, covered in over done sugar work.  These elements most certainly have their time and their place, but bare cakes offer a reprieve & realness.  There is something like home to them, like walking into your house after school to see your mother layering frosting on a cake she is making, its real, its honest & it is so wonderfully yummy, amiright?!  These elegant beauties can work their magic into the most sophisticated of fete to the most rustic vintage affair, they don’t play favorites, but we certainly should, the naked cake is most certainly one of mine!

Storyboard Wedding Post Signature

Photo/Blog Credits {Top to Bottom L to R}: Michelle Leo Events via Elizabeth Anne Designs | Little Brownie Box | Linda Lomelino | Alan Law Photography | Love and Lavender | Storyboard Wedding | Creative Inspiration | Style Me Pretty | Ruffled | Ben Web Wedding Photography