Vanilla is a beautiful, complex flavor in its own right. But sometimes, a plain vanilla cake needs a little more. Take inspiration from the light, fluffy, fruit-topped cakes found in bakeries throughout Asia.
A fresh, vibrant selection of strawberries, raspberries, kiwi, and mango — or whatever your heart desires — adds both flavor and style to the simplest cake. And the additional fruit is more nutritious than cake alone. Plus, decorating a cake with fruit requires less skill than fondant flowers or piped trim.
A haphazard mess looks just as nice as a carefully arranged selection. Just use your imagination: Thinly slice fruit and use cookie cutters to create shapes. Arrange the fruit in funky patterns or .
You can always use fruit to or give a boxed mix personality and panache — but baking a cake from scratch is always worthwhile. We recommend . How to keep fruit from leaking on a cake The trickiest part? Dealing with leaky, weepy fruit (looking at you, strawberries).
Fruit contains a lot of water, and sugar — like the sugar in your frosting — draws it out. When decorating cakes with fresh fruit, it's easy to end up with a swampy mess. To keep the cake looking as fresh as possible, add the fruit right before serving.
But if you have to finish it off a few hours beforehand, there are a few ways to keep it looking fresh. Pick fruit that's underripe and dry it well after you wash it. Some bakers even recommend wiping strawberries with a damp paper towel instead of rin.