We Can’t Get Enough of the Latest Trend in Wedding Desserts: Naked Cakes


Photo by Jason Varney

Photo by Jason Varney

Six months ago, Robert Bennett, executive pastry chef of Cherry Hill’s Classic Cake, wasn’t getting any requests for naked wedding cakes. Now, he says, he gets a couple a week.

More and more brides are opting to serve this bare beauty—confections with layers of cake and buttercream that aren’t wrapped in a wedding cake’s usual coating of smooth fondant—to their guests, and to have it featured in their cake-cutting wedding photos. Simple flavors such as vanilla allow for optimum freedom with decoration and adornment and are most popular, says Bennett.

And as long as you don’t leave your naked cake in direct sunlight (if you’re having an outdoor celebration, make sure it’s under a tent!), it’ll hold together just as well as one wearing a shield of fondant. (It’ll also smash into your brand-new spouse’s nose just as effectively.)

“When done neatly and cleanly, these cakes are so elegant,” says Bennett. “They show the cake’s inner beauty.” 

Three-tiered naked vanilla sponge cake with four thin layers of French vanilla buttercream, adorned with pomegranate jam, autumnal fruits and fondant lotus flowers, $14 per person, created by Classic Cake, Cherry Hill.

This article originally appeared in the fall/winter 2014 issue of Philadelphia Wedding. 

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