Cake is such a wonderful food. It can be anything from rich and decadent to light and fluffy. But what it should never be is boring. While a frosted cake sitting under a glass dome can look very yummy, there are lots of ways to dress your cake and take it to the next level. Below are some ways you can have some fun, get creative, and impress your family and friends with your amazing (and easy) kitchen skills so that they’ll think you went to a high-end bakery!
Between the layers and/or as a topping for the cake:
Jam/Preserves – Sweet, delicious, and a great way to use up those jars of jam just sitting in your pantry.
Sliced Fruit/Berries – Beautiful, light, and refreshing.
Pudding – You can really get creative with pudding. For example, caramel pudding and crushed pineapple, banana pudding with banana slices, chocolate pudding with sliced strawberries, etc.
Peanut Butter – Warm the peanut butter in a saucepan, then drizzle over the cake. For extra impressiveness, add chopped pieces of your favorite candy bar, such as Snickers, Twix, Butterfinger, etc.
Nutella – Warm the Nutella in a saucepan and drizzle over the layers, top, and sides of the cake.
Powdered Sugar – Let the cake cool completely and dust with powdered sugar. This makes a beautiful, classy presentation for chocolate cake. For a beautiful design, place a paper doily over the top layer of cake, lightly cover the doily with powdered sugar, then carefully remove the doily so as to preserve the design.
Canned/Jar Pie Filling – There are so many ready-made pie fillings to choose from! Everything from fruit filling to lemon curd to pumpkin to coconut. Talk about easy-peasy!
Fruit Juice – Orange, strawberry, pineapple, peach, nectarine, etc. This is great for “poke” cakes. Poke the cake all over with the end of a chopstick or small wooden spoon while the cake is slightly warm, then drizzle the juice over the cake so that the poked holes catch the juice. Lightly cover with whipped cream or fresh fruit if desired.
Softened Neufchatel Cheese & Fruit – Very European and light. Best fruits for this are strawberries, peaches, apricots, nectarines, or soaked figs/dates.
Flavored Liqueurs (poke the cake and drizzle) – Kahlua, Frangelico, Grand Marnier, Baileys Irish Cream, Limoncello, Chambord, etc.
Whipped Cream/Whipped Topping – Take it up a notch with some freshly grated lemon, lime, or orange zest! Or how about some freshly grated dark chocolate, nutmeg, or cinnamon?
Categorized in: General
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