This "Naked" Birthday Cake Style Makes Cake-Making Easy
Remember the naked cake trend that ruled every wedding Pinterest board circa 2013? Well, it's back... only better this time, and with a *brilliant* twist.
Cookbook author Casey Elsass is putting a cheeky spin on the trendy bare look in his new cookbook, What Can I Bring?, with his Birthday Suit Cake. Honestly, it might just be the smartest (and easiest) cake-frosting method you'll ever try.
So, what exactly is the Birthday Suit Cake? It's a vanilla "funfetti"-style layer cake that looks like a labor of love to partygoers. Only you will know just how low-effort it actually was to make. Think moist, sprinkle-speckled, stacked layers with frosting only on in between and on top — leaving the sides of the cake scantily clad.
🍰 But before we get to talk about frosting, we simply have to talk about the cake...
Casey's recipe starts with a white cake — that means no yolks, so the crumb stays extra pale, letting the rainbow sprinkles pop like confetti at a surprise party. Egg whites also keep things beautifully light and fluffy.
In the dry ingredients, Casey includes cornstarch with the flour, which is, as my Bostonian mother says, "Wicked smaht!" Why? Because it tenderizes the batter. Cornstarch has no protein in it, meaning it can't get tough when added to a batter in the way that wheat flour can.
Now, let's get into the frosting...
Flavor-wise, traditional American buttercream can be overly sweet, but not this one. Casey opts for a cream cheese buttercream — the cream cheese adds a welcome tanginess and makes the frosting suuuuper smooth and light.
The naked technique involves a technique I like to call... the plop and push.
Casey uses a little dab of frosting on the plate to secure the bottom layer of the cake. Then, he plops roughly half of your frosting on top of the first layer, using a spatula to push the frosting to the very edge of the first layer. Without the worry of saving enough frosting to coat the entire cake, buttercream filling takes no more than a minute or so to spread.
Once he's aligned the bottom and top layers (honestly, the most difficult part), Casey just spreads the remainder of the frosting on top and dusts it with even more sprinkles for an extra cheery look.
Et voilà! Time to break out the candles!
I'm a cake girl: usually the type to pick around the frosting and eat only the cake. NOT THIS TIME. The frosting-to-cake ratio of this bare-booty cake is perfect. My plate: licked clean. My tastebuds: deeply satisfied.
Birthday Suit Cake is one of the 75 guest-optimized recipes in Casey's new cookbook, What Can I Bring?, which focuses on killer dishes and desserts you can bring to any party. Order it here!
Get step-by-step instructions and a video tutorial for making the Birthday Suit Cake by downloading the free Tasty app, where you can access all 7,500+ of our recipes without a subscription.
Are you going to bring this cake to your next soirée? Let us know in the comments!
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
'You Deserve Better': Veterans Rally on National Mall Against Trump Cuts
Thousands of veterans gathered and raised their fists to the rhythm of the punk rock band Dropkick Murphys on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall on Friday, rallying against the Trump administration's federal job cuts and the potential loss of government services. Many attendees of the Unite for Veterans, Unite for America Rally carried signs, including some that read "I Stand With Vets;" "Respect, Honor, Pay, Veterans;" and "VA Support Isn't a Gift, It's a Debt." The protest rally, part of the growing public concern over the administration's plans to dramatically reshape the federal government, also coincided with the 81st anniversary of D-Day. Since President Donald Trump took office, layoffs from government jobs have affected veterans who make up a large percentage of the federal workforce, with some congressional estimates that around 6,000 former service members have lost their livelihoods. An internal memo obtained by in March showed that more than 80,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees could be fired, which advocates say would harm important services. Read Next: White House Asked Joint Chiefs Chairman for Candidates to Lead NASA, Worrying Experts Lead singer of the Dropkick Murphys Ken Casey said it in his own way, telling the veterans in the crowd that he supported them before tearing into newly released music. Veterans in attendance associated the band with their service during the Global War on Terror. "We have always stood with the vets, and the vets have always stood with the Dropkick Murphys," Casey said. "When sh-- ain't right, we're going to speak up. That's what it's all about and guess what? Sh-- ain't right!" Former Army Sgt. Will Attig, who recalls being an 18-year-old riding in a Humvee and listening to Dropkick Murphys music during his deployment to Iraq, said it was a surreal moment to be standing on a stage next to Casey. "There's a connection with music," said Attig, who was one of the organizers of the event. "Music is a part of the veterans community. ... Music is one of the ways we fight back." The protest brought together veterans advocacy groups and service members from different generations like Randall Goldberg, a former Army soldier who said he left the service in 1970 and is angered by the Trump administration's actions when it comes to veterans. "There has to be resistance to those folks," Goldberg said of the loss of federal jobs and projected cuts. "It's nuts; it's nothing fair." In addition to numerous generations of veterans in attendance, vocal veterans in Congress also spoke and made appearances at the event. Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat and a Marine Corps veteran, told in an interview on the National Mall that the potential cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs have pushed many former service members to speak out. "We just tend to suck it up, right?" Gallego said of the veteran community. "I think this has pushed a lot of veterans to an existential moment, because we've never seen something like this." Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who was wounded in combat, rallied the crowd as one of the scheduled speakers. She spoke out about many of Trump's policies and the so-called "One Big, Beautiful Bill," legislation working through Congress to enact Trump's agenda that she described as "a middle finger to our heroes" by offering tax cuts instead of keeping jobs. The crowd, in response, raised their own middle fingers to the sky. "You deserve better; you've earned better," Duckworth said during her remarks. "Since our warriors landed on the beaches of Normandy on this very day 81 years ago, those who have worn the uniform have defied the odds to define America at her best. America is what she is today because of the blood of brothers and sisters shed in combat zones." Dropkick Murphys played many of their signature hits, including "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" and "Rose Tattoo," but it was a newly released song played by the band titled "Who'll Stand With Us?" that appeared to strike the biggest chord. "Who'll stand with us? Don't tell us everything is fine, Who'll stand with us? Because this treatment is a crime," Casey belted to the crowd, with many attendees nodding in agreement. Related: Dropkick Murphys, Lawmakers to Join Veterans in Washington on D-Day to Protect VA Benefits, Federal Jobs
Buzz Feed
7 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
XG Tries American Foods
The energetic girls of XG dropped by our studio to try a few of America's greatest fast food delicacies for the first time. Our culinary offerings included: Chipotle burritos, a Bloomin' Onion, Trader Joe's pickle chips, and, of course, BJ's pizookies. Watch the video to see their priceless reactions to these American foods! #XG #TasteTest
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Social media users react to Musk-Trump feud
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's war of words has left Washington analyzing how quickly their once close relationship deteriorated and the implications. But social media users around the world took out their popcorn, flocked to their devices, and chimed in as the feud played out on social media. From Musk and Trump's supporters cheering each of them on, with others telling them to cool things off, to memes from other internet users relishing in the back and forth, platforms like X, Truth Social, and BlueSky have allowed the public to watch it all unfold and weigh in in real time. "They see this as a catfight," Jennifer Grygiel, an associate professor of communications at Syracuse University, told ABC News. "The one reason people are tuning in is because we are watching mutual destruction." MORE: Trump tells ABC Musk 'lost his mind'; 'not particularly' interested in talking to him Grygiel noted that while some of the social media engagement might be all fun and games, it does speak to a larger issue about the public's dissatisfaction with the current state of politics and civic engagement. More important, the professor pointed out, it does distract from the bigger political issues and debates going on. As soon as Musk's and Trump's posts dropped Thursday afternoon, social media users started to post themselves. "This is like Drake and Kendrick Lamar but they're both Drake," Anna Hughes, a Canadian Ocean conservation researcher in a viral BlueSky post. One famous support of both Trump and Musk urged them to stop. "Broooos please noooooo 🫂 We love you both so much," rapper Ye posted on X. Others started making memes, some of which used AI-generated images, of Trump and Musk fighting or appearing as a couple breaking up. "LET ME HOST THE REUNION!" late night talk show host Andy Cohen posted on X. On the serious side, Republicans on the Hill, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President JD Vance, put out statements on X defending the president and the spending bill. "There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he's impulsive or short-tempered. Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that's ridiculous," Vance posted. Conservative commentator Jack Posobiec claimed in an X post that the pair's back-and-forth was blown out of proportion. "Some of y'all cant handle 2 high agency males going at it and it really shows," he said. Some Democrats took to social media to gloat. MORE: Trump Musk feud explodes with claim president is in Epstein files "Siri, play 'Bad Blood,'" Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer posted on BlueSky Thursday evening, referencing the Taylor Swift song about a relationship on the rocks. The online peanut gallery wasn't limited to American spectators. Dmitri Medvedev, the former Russian president and Russian prime minister, took to X early Friday morning with a georpolitical dose of sarcasm. "We are ready to facilitate the conclusion of a peace deal between D and E for a reasonable fee and to accept Starlink shares as payment. Don't fight, guys," he said. Grygiel said Trump and Musk knew they would stir up their political bases and the general public by taking their quarrels to their respective social media platforms, likening it to how media tycoons owners used the magazines and newspaper they owned at the turn of the 20th century. "It's almost like all of these social media platforms are sports teams, with their own personalities," they said. "If anything both men obviously know the importance of tweaking public opinion." Grant Reeher, professor of political science at Syracuse University, told ABC News that Musk and Trump's use of social media has encouraged this political engagement for years. "I think it's very emblematic of the whole process of a lot of big changes in political communication and campaigning rhetoric. Grygiel, however, said the posts and comments by some social media users show the public's increased distrust and frustration with their elected leaders. MORE: CBO estimates Trump's bill could add $2.4T to deficit, leave 11 million without health insurance "The jokes speak to a lack of disengagement and how we feel like this is ridiculous," they said. Grygiel, however, warned the engagement over the spat is overall detrimental to the general public as other pressing issues, including Trump's budget cuts, which set off the feud in the first place. Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy echoed this sentiment in a blunt BlueSky post Thursday. "When 15 million Americans lose their health care and plunge into personal crisis, none of them are going to give a s--- about a made-for-clicks Twitter fight between two billionaires arguing," he said.
