The Frosting-Free Debate

No new wedding cake trend has divided brides-to-be quite like the topic of a serving a beautiful, three-tier confection—with no frosting. Call it Dessert Storm.

When Hilary Duff's wedding photos hit OK Magazine last year, the fact that the TV and movie star served a cake without icing had brides-to-be buzzing online. Some praised the concept: "I don't like the taste of fondant icing, so this type of cake would save me the trouble of peeling it off." Others, not so much: "No icing? Then it's not a cake!!! LOL!"

The concept behind the homespun-feeling, rustic-looking cake is simple. It's stacked just like a classic design so there will be no mistaking it as a wedding cake. Duff's, for example, had three-tiers. Each tier had layers of yellow cake filled with classic butter cream, according to Leslie Maynor-Anderson, the celebrity baker of Fantasy Frostings in Pasadena, CA, who made the Duff dessert. "But I've done it in chocolate and red velvet," says Maynor-Anderson.

Here are five surprising things you should know about this precious style before you weigh in:

It's ideal for a smaller crowd

If you're hosting a black-tie affair for 500 in a grand ballroom, this cake is not for you. When a baker coats the exterior with frosting, it doesn't just keep a cake fresher (by sealing in moisture and eliminating the risk of drying out)--it also makes it less fragile. "There is a limitation of about 200 guests for this design," says Maynor-Anderson. "It's not as easy to pull off for as a five-tier than as a three-tier."

It's hard to bake

If a cake wore a string bikini, this would be the kind that has to be able to pull it off. In other words, the cake layers can't have browned unevenly, must not have cracked, you get the picture. While frosting can hide any imperfections on the usual wedding cake, this design is boldly baring it all--so it has to look good from the moment it is pulled from the oven.

It takes an expert to prevent drying

Maynor-Anderson won't reveal her secret technique to prevent the cake from drying out easily since it is exposed to the elements. She's so hush-hush about how she does it because it isthat hard to pull off. When asked, Maynor-Anderson asserts that she doesn't just coat the baked cakes with a sugary concoction to keep them moist (it is a recommendation that other bakers--who've never made a frostingless cake--speculate is one way keep the exposed dessert from getting hard and crusty).

It smells a-mazing

This isn't a quality that one often looks for in a wedding cake. But one whiff of this confection and it just may be added to your criteria. Without the protective coating of icing, be prepared to have guests stop and stand by your cake table, captivated by the bakery-fresh smell that this dessert gives off. Maynor-Anderson recalls that when she brought this cake into the Duff wedding tent, guests kept coming up to them, lured over by its amazing aroma.

It is for foodies

Without the distractions of fancy decorations or colorful buttercream or fondant, this cake simply must taste delicious. "I'm an old-school girl," says Maynor-Anderson who started out working for her mother 34 years ago. (Her first celebrity wedding cake was when she was 17 years old--for the nups of Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli). "It's not about its shape. It's about the baking."
--Erinn Bucklan

Source: Colin Cowie