I just love Naked Cakes. I love that they're void of heaps of icing and that their imperfection makes them beautiful. I love that the kids help me and that we clip flowers for the top.

And I adore that I found a sneaky way to make them in five minutes... and they still look homemade!

** Ok Stop. In case you don't know what a Naked Cake is, it's a cake that simply has icing between the layers, leaving the outside bare. And if there is an outer layer...it's placed thinly and a tad haphazardly.

You guys, did you know that you can ask for unfrosted cake from the bakery section at the grocery store?

YES!!! And your welcome!! Your party throwing just got easier!!

Sometimes I'll do two layers, but my FAVORITE is to do three. It's tall, makes a statement...and each layer costs only a few dollars!

I started doing this when we lived in a home with a horrible oven that either over-baked or under-baked EVERYTHING. You just never knew what would come out.

Sometimes I'll make my own Buttercream icing (Pinterest has tons of yummy recipes), but when I'm short on time, I'll just grab some from the baking isle, add a little food coloring (or not) and start frosting.

For a two layer cake, I buy two small tubs of icing...though I don't use the whole second tub.

This cake was for Elsabet's birthday on Friday and she asked that we make a "shiny cake" so the birthday girl and I used edible gold leaf that I had on hand from a previous party.

I let her be in charge of the gold leafing while I placed the flowers on top, so the placement of the gold was a little wonky.

But I'm a big believer in not redoing things the little ones take part in because I never want them to feel their work isn't good enough. So when it's things like cake decorating, I give up on perfection and grasp memory-making and confidence-building instead.

And ummmm we kinda had a blast doing it. Happy 4th Birthday, Elsabet!!