Naked Cakes, Nude Cakes, Bare Cakes…whatever you prefer to call them, we’re talking about cakes where the focus is on the cake itself and the filling rather than the icing cover and decorations.

While some actresses get a lot of publicity over their nudity, in the case of Actress Hilary Duff, it was her naked wedding cake being flashed around the world in 2010, that sparked controversy and made naked wedding cakes all the rage. The debate amongst cake lovers continues as to whether cakes need to be ‘dressed’ or not in order to be beautiful. As with everything, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or perhaps in the mouth of the cake holder! Some think this ‘sponge is star’ cake looks too plain for a wedding cake. Others say it’s perfect the way it is especially  for those who are not fans of fondant.

Hilary Duff's Wedding Cake sparked a 'Naked Cake' trend.

Love them or hate them, Naked Cakes have nothing to hide behind and so the pressure’s on the cake baking rather than the cake decorating because  there’s no decorative camoflauge to cover the cracks or flaws. When your cake is cracked on top, those sugar or fresh flowers sure come in handy!

Perhaps the allure of the Naked Cake is linked to our fascination with all things Vintage and Retro and the comfort of happy childhood memories. There’s something about them that’s reminiscent of Grandma’s baking hey-day. We have flashbacks of her proudly bringing out a perfectly baked sponge from the oven, then testing our patience waiting for the cake to cool so she could put lashings of fresh cream on it. Then she’d dress it up with a handful of strawberries on top and serve it with a tall glass of cold milk for our afternoon delight. Naked Cakes are a feature of many cafes that bake on the premises where they’re often displayed on vintage style cake stands on the counter just like in the good ol’ days.

Do you like cakes that ‘bare all’? Or do you prefer your cake dressed?

Whatever type of cake you’re looking to order, check our Directory here http://cakeappreciationsociety.com/blog/directory/

Interested in it? Pin it!  Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that allows people everywhere to share their common interests, hobbies and tastes, seek inspiration and plan events such as weddings and birthday parties. Pinterest’s mission is to “connect everyone in the world through the things they find interesting.”

Our mission at Cake Appreciation Society is to connect everyone in the world through the love of cake! You’ll find Cake Appreciation Society on Pinterest here http://pinterest.com/cakepins/ with new ‘Editor’s Picks’ updated daily, providing inspiration for every occasion because cakes are for life, not just birthdays.

Top 3 Most Popular Pins From Last Week on our Cake Appreciation Society Pinterest Boards.

1. From our THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO YUM Pinterest Board

2. From our CAKE STANDS Pinterest Board

3. From our CUPCAKE TOWERS Pinterest Board

How to create a Pinterest Account and Start Pinning?

If you’re not on Pinterest yet and  do not have any friends on it, you can go directly to the Pinterest official website and request an invitation. You will be informed through an email that you are added in their waiting list.You will soon receive a notification email, welcoming you to Pinterest. They will give you an invitation link; click on it. You will be brought to a new window and are then required to login with your Facebook account. Facebook timeline account works with Pinterest, so if you have not updated your profile yet; you will be required to do it now. A registration form is displayed asking your details. Fill it in and your Pinterest account is created enabling you to start pinning and sharing. Easy as that.

We’d love to have you visit us over at Pinterest. Would you like to be featured on our Pinterest Boards? Join us today as a Cake Appreciation Society Member and get listed in our Directory at www.cakeappreciationsociety.com, pinned on Pinterest, Tweeted on Twitter, Found on Facebook and Cake Blogger might even choose you to be our next CAS Blog Star!

Happy Pinning!

If you have any doubt in your mind about the importance of your custom made wedding cake  as a representation of your marriage, and the significant place it will always have in your memories of your special day, have a look at this breathtakingly beautiful wedding cake by our Cake Appreciation Society Member Sweet Things by Fi, located in Gibraltar. The Cutting Cake and Cupcake Tower co-ordinates perfectly with the Bride’s wedding dress and bouquet.

Looking for a wedding cake for your special day?  Take a look in our WEDDING CAKEFINDER album here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.192516564117412.35913.158099100892492&type=3

Why are cakes so costly? If you’re not associated with professional cake decorating and have ever wondered why custom-order cakes cost more than mass-produced commercial cake shop ones, or supermarket  ones, you must read this! Join us on a behind-the-scenes tour with our Cake Appreciation Society Member, Maryanne’s Cake Creations who shows us in real cake making time how much labour of love goes into creating a special order cake.

Can you guess how many hours it took to make this cake?

This cake was made for Maryanne’s Mum’s 80th Birthday and planning for it started a year ago. It’s a  4 tier cake with 60 handmade gumpaste roses cascading down the side and sweeping to the front of the cake. Each tier is covered in ganache and then covered in fondant with royal icing piping. Ribbon, pearls and some Australian wild flowers were weaved though the roses. Everything about this cake is personalised and has significant meaning to the Birthday Girl and her family including the choice of the burgundy and white colour roses and the number of roses used to decorate the cake.

The specifications of this cake included:

Bottom Tier 1- 12 inch Chocolate Mud Cake

Tier 2 – 10 inch Marbled Chocolate and White Chocolate Mud Cake

Tier 3 – 8 inch Red Velvet Cake.

Top Tier 4 – 6 inch White Chocolate/Vanilla Mud Cake.

Where Did The Time Go?

By the way, if you haven’t already had a sneak peek at the correct answer on Maryanne’s Cake Creations Facebook  page, the total time to make this cake from mixing the cakes to finishing the final decorative touch was 37 hours!

So next time you see a beautiful looking cake, please appreciate the amount of work that goes into it and understand why the cost of the cake will fade, but the memories it creates will not.

At Cake Appreciation Society we believe  ’Sharing is Caring’ as we showcase cakes for every occasion worldwide, however, if you’re a cake decorator who’s had enough of seeing other people ‘cut and paste’ your cake creations that you proudly share and want to stop others claiming your cake photos as their own, here’s a solution worth knowing. Pic Marker lets you add a custom watermark (image or text) to your images online and it’s free. It’s useful when you want to protect your copyright or if you want to add comments to your photo.

What is a Watermark?

Some handy features of Pic Marker include being able to upload files from your computer or from your Flickr, Facebook or Picasa account. It allows batch image processing and you can add a text watermark, image watermark or tiled watermark. What we particularly like about it is that it’s easy to use, without the need to download or install anything and yes, it’s free! (You can buy a Pro Version if you need more features.)

Start Watermarking Your Cake Photos Now!

Click here on this link to start using Pic Marker and stop the cake photo thieves taking credit for your workmanship.

http://picmarkr.com/

Tips for Watermarking Cake Photos

While it’s important to have your name or logo appear in the photo, it’s also important to be careful about where you place the watermark so it doesn’t spoil the photo of the cake and make it hard for cake lovers and potential customers to see the actual cake and appreciate its details.

Sharing and Tagging Cake Photos on Facebook

If you’re wanting to share photos from someone else’s Facebook page, it’s best to  click on the ‘share’ button so that the original source of the photo is included. Tagging a cake photo is appropriate if you are the person who is associated with the photo, either as cake maker, decorator, photographer or customer, for example.

Examples of Watermarks

Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for ‘Fifth of May’ and is a celebration of Mexican-American culture and experiences held in the United States on May 5. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated also in Mexico and even in Australia.The celebrations involve food, music and dancing and very importantly, desserts! Here’s a few sweet ideas we’ve rounded up to share with you including Pinata Sugar Cookies, Margarita Cupcakes and Tres Leches 3 Milk Cake which we think you’ll love not only to make Cinco de Mayo a special occasion, but to add  deliciousness to other calendar dates as well. Ole! Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Feeling creatively adventurous? Click on this link below to view recipe and step-by-step instructions to make these Cinco De Mayo Pinata Sugar Cookies.

http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/958083/cinco-de-mayo-pinata-cookies

These Margarita Cupcakes are made with tequila and lime juice, then frosted with a delicious tequila and lime frosting. Click on this link to view recipe for Margarita Cupcakes. http://www.examiner.com/article/margarita-cupcakes-recipe-for-cinco-de-mayo

The Tres Leches 3 Milk Cake promises to melt in your mouth! It is a very rich and very filling cake. It gets its name from the “three milks” – sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream, which are soaked into the cake, making it the most moist and delicious cake you’ve ever had. Click here to view the recipe http://www.icuban.com/food/tres_leches_cake.html

It’s with decorated cakes that you really see how fashion gets interpreted from the wearable to the edible. One trend for cake decorating which has been ‘hot’ for a while now and continues to be seen on some of the ‘best dressed cakes’ around is the layered ruffle effect. Here’s a selection of Ruffle Cakes by our Cake Appreciation Society Members that are fashion favourites. Keen to learn how to layer ruffles? We also share a video on how to layer ruffles for those wanting to try this cake decorating technique for themselves.

Keen to try out your own Ruffle Layer Cake? Click on this link to view You Tube video ‘How To Layer Ruffles’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxT9f1-N2fI

Here’s a collection of the sweetest Bride and Groom ideas around from our Cake Appreciation Society Members. Some of these cute confections can be used instead of a top cake on a cupcake tower, others as toppers on a cake, or as Bonbonniere (wedding favours) for guests.

Looking for a cake decorator near you? You’ll find all these Cake Appreciation Society Members and lots more in our Directory at www.cakeappreciationsociety.com Click on here to view. http://cakeappreciationsociety.com/blog/directory/

‘I can’t believe it’s cake!’ is the first thing that comes to mind when you see these Handbag Cakes by our Cake Appreciation Society Member, Indulge Cakes, located in Warragul, Victoria. They are so realistic looking that at first glance, we thought we’d landed on a designer handbag website instead of a cake decorator’s page! “If this is a cake, I’ll eat my handbag” someone piped up. Go ahead, eat your handbag, but only if it’s a handbag cake like this!

Still not convinced these are really cakes? We suggest you visit their Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/Indulgedesignercakes where  you’ll see some ‘behind the scenes’ photos which prove there’s really a ganached, edible cake under that fashionably realistic handbag exterior.

Looking for something different this Mother’s Day or for Mum’s Birthday that’s easy enough for the kids to do?  Give mum a break from making and decorating her own cake with this  great idea from our Cake Appreciation Society Member, All Things Cake and Small, located in Sydney, New South Wales.  Their Do-It-Yourself Decorating range is available as cakes, cupcakes and cookies. You select the product and they provide you with everything you need to decorate. It’s a great way to get the kids involved during family special occasions, as well as keep them busy for a while. Just casually leave this page in full view of Dad so he can organise it!

You’ll find All Things Cake and Small on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Things-Cake-Small/185986598161826