The Semi Naked Cake

Blueberries, raspberries & strawberries

Semi Naked or Semi Nude cakes have taken our Instagram feed for a while now and I personally have a few Pinboards dedicated to this style of cake. This blog post is a collection of cakey tips for my wonderful clients, especially brides, who are thinking about ordering a Semi Naked cake.
Let’s begin this semi nude journey with cake flavours. You can still have any flavour combination from our menu, but keep in mind, different flavours have different colours. Unless you are going for a very rustic tiered wedding cake, I would suggest all the same flavours or stick with similar coloured cakes. For example coconut bounty, vanilla bean white chocolate mud cake and gluten free butter cake. These flavours will give you that lovely colour consistency. Or you can mix it up with red velvet and rich chocolate mud cake.

Bowerbird and Browne

The next thing to consider are cake finishes. So you all know the deal, The Sugar Kitchen cakes are torted, syruped, layered with Callebauts Belgian chocolate ganache (the best chocolate) and then coated in either more ganache (white chocolate ganache usually) or Italian Meringue Buttercream (incredibly fluffy and light and not too sweet). So, both options are delicious, which makes the big deciding factor weather. Buttercream is better in winter or aircon, it melts quicker than ganache and is not as “structurally sound” as ganache. If you are collecting your own cake I would recommend ganache finish. I can also add titanium dioxide to give you that crisp white finish for the ganache and Buttercream too.

Why not indulge with some deluxe extras? This includes cake fillings; they can be TSK famous Salted Caramel Sauce, lemon curd, passionfruit lemon curd or raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream. Or maybe a drip of Salted Caramel sauce or a gold ganache drip? 24 carat gold leaf or silver leaf can add a metallic touch. Maybe some freshly made macarons in pistachio, strawberry, vanilla bean or Musk Stick flavour? Berries are always popular and add flavour, texture and colour.

Flowers By Bonnie

Roses are red, violets are blue, and you should have flowers on your wedding cake too. So, I may be better at baking than rhyming, but fresh flowers are a wonderful choice for semi naked cakes. They create a polished finish to the reduced rustic look of semi naked cakes. Also, they are a better choice than sugar flowers, as fresh flowers agree with the fridge, sugar flowers do not. You can match the flowers to your bouquet, stay with the classic white or keep it minimalist, with greenery. We are so blessed to have so many amazing talented florists locally. Lotus Floral studio, Flowers by Bonnie and Bowerbird and Browne are my preferred suppliers. I am always happy to book your flowers, collect them from the vendor and arrangement them on the cake. That way your creation is delivered fully assembled and looking fabulous.

To top or not to top… You may choose to have a topper to add the final finish to your cake. The Sugar Kitchen have toppers in stock and can order you a custom creation. My favourite companies are Glistening Occasions and Communicakit, both ladies are fabulous entrepreneurs. You can still have TSK fabulous Sugar Bride and Groom toppers on the Semi Naked cake styles. The custom toppers can be matched to your gown and suit and the style of the big day. You can keep your toppers in an airtight container in a cool dark place (not the fridge).
I hope this has made some of the choices a bit easier (or possibly harder) for your cake creation!

Stay sweet,

Sam xo