Foodie Friday….Half Naked Pinata Cake

The gorgeous birthday cake you see above was made for a party a few months back by my friend, Courtney, who is an amazing baker! Her cookies are to die for and if you have a party you always ask her to bring dessert. Well, when we cut into the cake a fun surprise came spilling out! Her baking and creativity never disappoints!

Fast forward to a few weekends ago and I was bringing a cake to my friend, Nancy’s, 70th birthday get together. Now, I am so NOT at all a baker, but I loved the fun and whimsy of Courtney’s cake so much that I had to try to recreate it. Her cake was a “naked cake” whereas mine was a “half naked cake.” “What is that,” you say? Well, they’re only frosted between layers, not on the outside or top….or are only partially frosted, scraping the sides and top so you see parts of the cake. It’s a Pinterest-y thing!

I should mention that Courtney actually makes her yummy cakes from scratch…did I mention she’s an amazing baker?…and I go the easy route and buy the box. You’ll need at least two boxes of cake mix, some confetti sprinkles and some M&M’s. I suppose you could get even more creative and fill it with other fun stuff, but this is what I used.

Bake the cakes as instructed on the box. I have two 9″ round cake pans, so I made two vanilla and two chocolate cakes. Let them cool completely.

Cut the top off of of both chocolate cakes and one of the vanilla cakes…. just enough so they’ll lay flat on your cake display stand/plate and for your layers. Place one chocolate layer on the cake plate.

Then, you’ll need to cut a circle in your next two levels, one white, one chocolate. I happen to have some of those rings for making fancy layered appetizers, but I’m sure you can just use an upside down glass. Once you do the first vanilla one, place it gently on top of the other chocolate one and press down a bit so you’ll know where to cut the whole in the chocolate one so they line up. I guess if you had a tall enough glass you could just go through both at the same time?  My cylinder is smaller, so I had to do them separately. (…or make bigger/higher cakes, like Courtney did and you’ll only cut through one level)

(note: I cut my tops off after I put the wholes in them, that’s why they look so rounded. You can do it before or after)

Assemble your cake, frosting between the layers.

….then pour the candy in the middle

Put the final layer on top and frost it whatever way you’d like. I used vanilla, with some funfetti and sprinkles thrown on.

Voilà….cake done!

Surprise!! Want more inspiration? Click over to Pinterest for even more pinata cake ideas.

….and if you want to see the original naked cake, and some awesome desserts/pastries, the new season of Chef’s Table on Netflix just came out this past week (thanks to my nephew Noah for the heads up!) and the first episode is about Christina Tosi of Milk Bar fame.

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!

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