The semi naked wedding cake trend started in the early/mid 2010s having supposedly developed from the fully naked cakes being made by the American bakery Milk Bar.
Personally, I don't like the look of fully naked wedding cakes as they look a little too rough around the edges for me. They can also be quite problematic on the day as without a layer of buttercream around the outside, they can dry out quite quickly. Without the added support of a buttercream 'scaffold' around the outside, there is also the danger of them 'drooping' and the filling escaping. As a result, the time they can be out of display has to be reduced quite dramatically.
Semi naked wedding cakes, on the other hand, still retain some of the more rustic, stripped-back charm of a naked cake, while having a thin layer of buttercream that still allows me to create my signatire sharp edges, and also provides a barrier to keep the moisture of the cake in, which means that they can be on display for long. They are often the wedding cake of choice for more boho or rustic-themed weddings.
The more conventional style for a semi naked wedding cake is to decorate them with fresh fruit and flowers. Personally, I don't like to use fruit on the cakes that I make as they can weep and/or dry out but of course, I love using flowers to decorate a cake. As well as fresh, you can also use silk - check out my recent blog post where I talk about using the two types.
As you can see in the photo of the cake above, the decoration is kept quite minimal with the use of some gorgeous fresh roses and foliage. I prefer not to strip back all of the Swiss meringue buttercream that I use on the cakes that I make, so that I can still create a smooth surface around the outside and nice sharp edges.
But flowers needn't be the only type of decoration you can add to the cake. How about incorporating some buttercream palette knife strokes to texture and colour? This can be combined with edible gold leaf. The cake in the photo below is set up at the fantastic Morden Hall wedding venue which is a grade 2 listed 18th century country house located close by to me.
Again, the Swiss meringue buttercream is stripped back, but not too much, and colourful textured palette knife strokes in golden browns and khakis, along with edible gold leaf. The flowers are not real, and are actually faux silk artificial flowers. I really like the look of these larger statement flowers, and you would never guess that these aren't fresh flowers.
I always like to incorporate a satisfying buttercream splatter, and for a more minimal look, additional colour can come from the splattering, and instead of large fresh flowers, smaller edible flowers can be added to the cake.
Semi naked wedding cakes offer a more understated alternative to a fully covered, highly decorated wedding cake, and give a more rustic charm to a wedding. I still like to finish the look of the cake with the same precision and attention to detail that I do with my fully covered wedding cakes, but if you like a more minimal look then semi naked could be the way to go. Semi-naked wedding cakes are a style that don't seem to be going away anytime soon, so if you're thinking of having one for your wedding, get in touch and let's chat.
Simon's Bakery is located in Tooting, south London, and I deliver across London, Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and beyond. I design luxury modern bespoke Swiss meringue buttercream and ganache wedding cakes and event cakes, characterised by a clean precise finish, with sharp edges, a bold use of colour and other modern design techniques to create interesting textures and shapes.
I draw on my years of cooking and baking experience to cakes that not only look stunning, but also taste amazing, experimenting with flavours and texture combinations to create a memorable taste sensation.