Tempting naked cakes seem to be quite the popular trend at the moment! We’ve been gathering an impressive amount of requests for them in a fun variety of forms from macaron toppled birthday treats to towering rustic wedding designs. This super bright Black Forest Gateau inspired naked cake is definitely one of our favourite cakes we’ve made this year. It’s also the pinkest cake we’ve seen let alone created! Read on for more about how we made this cherry macaron adorned delight…
Back when we held the consultation for the couple who requested this cake we were left with a few definite cake must-haves… a pink colour palette, Black Forest Gateau flavour, macarons, roses… and for the end cake to be an absolute surprise! They wanted a naked cake a little different to the usual, but wanted their wedding cake to be top secret until the big day. In other words we got full creative control!
One of the first things we established were the flavours. Obsessed with cherry flavours the couple were pretty certain what tastes they wanted, but we added in our Cherry Ripple and Sour Cherry macarons as well as splashes of German Kirsch, fresh Picota cherries and liberal servings of Morello cherry preserve inside the cake. Perfect for making chocolate cake a little more exotic!
Pssst… inside of our macarons are home made Morello cherry confiture, Madagascan vanilla bean and white chocolate ganache with Kirsch buttercream and tangy cherry sherbet crystals! Kirsch is an amazing ingredient- it’s like Chambord in that it seems to pump up the fruit flavour a little more. Adding a matching fruit liqueur into buttercream or preserves gives it another level of taste - great for parties or receptions without kids!
To make this naked wedding cake a little more different we planned on scraping bright cherry Swiss Meringue Buttercream outside of each tier, much like a crumb coat, before arranging the flowers, macarons, foliage and cherries in a sweet garland formation around the top of the bottom tier and then as a ball on top of the cake to add a little bit of extra height and drama.
We’re both huge fans of wild arrangements and bouquets so we tend to include lots of berries, textural herbs and pretty foliage in our florals (sugar and real). A fabulous herb to use is Rosemary as the sprigs look somewhat like plumes of feathers; with these we added in stripped rose leaves too.
NOTE:
If you’re planning on using Rosemary sprigs to add detail to a naked cake or buttercream cake don’t go overboard and pair your flavours well. It can be quite fragrant and also has a distinct taste. Our tip is to combine it with strong fruit flavours such as lemon, cherry, or raspberry - perhaps with lighter notes of white chocolate and vanilla.
As with every cake we’re always sad to see it leave, but we’re happy to say that the surprise cake design went down a treat with the couple! Some very eagerly received slices were even saved just for us - they didn’t last long though…
