Perhaps you don’t have the time or patience to bake a cake for Thanksgiving. Maybe you despise baking, or perhaps you have one too many judgmental aunts looking for the opportunity to disparage your pastry skills. Now you can buy a cake and fake your way to success. There’s no shame in a purchased cake, but consider them unfinished. The store or bakery has done the hard part for you; all you have to do is add that final touch to make it your own. Buy the store’s bakery brand of cake. Make sure not to buy Entenmann’s or any other brand that’s too recognizable. Go for a bundt cake (not angel food, that’s a dead giveaway), loaf cake, apple cake, or anything with streusel. Grab powdered sugar, caramel sauce or chocolate drizzle, and nuts like pecans, walnuts, or almonds. Take the cake out of whatever container it’s in and put it on a serving plate. For a loaf cake, you can either drizzle it with caramel, chocolate sauce, or make a quick white icing by dissolving water or milk into powdered sugar. For crumb or streusel topped cakes, toast a big handful of nuts in a frying pan until fragrant, chop the nuts and mix half with some caramel sauce until you have a loose, nutty mixture. Put the cake on a serving dish. Dollop the nutty caramel around the top of the cake so it oozes down the side slightly, scatter the rest of the nuts over the cake, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. For cakes with frosting, use finely chopped nuts, sprinkles, or mini chocolate chips and press them up the sides of the cake. Use the same garnish and scatter it decoratively along the outer edge too. For any cake that still looks too manufactured, you can always opt to serve it as slices. Slice the cake and line up the wedges or rectangles in a decorative fashion on a long platter. Not only does this make it easier for guests to grab, but it interrupts any decorations that look too perfect.
