I would love some advice on making a naked cake! I'm not a big fan of this style of cake & I hoped I would never get an order for one, but I will be making my first one soon & would like any tips or advice I can get! I'm making it for my friends baby shower, she wants the naked cake with the powdered sugar sprinkled all over... no buttercream icing at all except for the filling & she will be adding live flowers. It's a tree tiered, 6 8 & 10".

My biggest concern is, will the cake dry out considering there will be no buttercream icing at all except for a little on the sides where the filling will be? I told my friend it may be a little dry since there's no icing & she said she was good with that. Also, how can I get the powdered sugar on the cake? And will the powdered sugar melt from all the oils from the cake & filling? I'm worried it will turn into a glaze or something. Any help would be much appreciated!

To keep the cake from drying out you could put a very light coating of clear piping gel on the cake.  That's what I did when I have my only order for that.    The customer might be ok with dry cake but who is going to explain to each and every one who eats the cake?  If a guest eats a dry piece (s)he might not hear the reason why or believe it:(    The PS doesn't melt especially if you keep it a very light coating.

Never made a naked cake yet so good luck! Maybe you can assemble the cake at the "last minute"? Like freeze and then thaw them the so they are ready the day of the party then fill and dust with the PS. - I would just put the powdered sugar in a sieve and tap it all over the cake to dust everything.

i recently made two naked cakes a fudge cake like a big whonkin' brownie and a vanilla pound cake -- both of the following recipes are fine without icing -- but they were baked the day before and i kept them under glass so they were appealing and tasty -- but perfectly fine  sitting out even with a bit of a mild chewy crust --

the only change i made is i used black cocoa in the brownie/Oreo cake -- filled it with a rich American buttercream made with butter, buttermilk & vanilla bean paste but no glaze or icing

i would be hard pressed to use a regular cake recipe (aka white wedding cake) without some kind of glaze on it -- just don't think i could/would do it -- but these were just right:

http://www.spachethespatula.com/giant-oreo-cake/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/trisha-yearwood/cold-oven-poundcake-recipe.html

I would suggest stacking the tiers and keeping them wrapped in plastic as long as possible. When I made naked cakes I put cake syrup in a clean spray bottle and spritzed them before wrapping and again after I unwrapped it. Beware, when you spray that you will have overspray on the cake board and your counter, be prepared with a damp cloth and don't spray it on the cake table.

Put the powdered sugar on last minute if possible. Sounds pretty!

I made a "naked" 2-tier gob cake (plus a few kitchen cakes) for a wedding a few years ago.  I was also very nervous it would dry out before the wedding but the bride was very happy with it and said it wasn't dry at all.  What I did was make a simple syrup and soak the cake layers before I filled and assembled it.  I then wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until I loaded up my car to deliver.  I unwrapped the cake once I got it to the venue and used my small angled spatula to fix any spots where the icing smeared a bit.  It was a VERY EASY & SIMPLE cake to do.  It was just the thought of 'no buttercream' to keep the cake moist that kept me up at night :-)  I would suggest not putting too much syrup on the cake because it will soak through the cake to the outside and when you put powdered sugar on the cake, the cake surface will be wet and the powdered sugar will melt and clump.  

I can't figure out how to post a photo of the cake on this post!!  I wish I could!!  If you want to see it, you can PM me and I will give you a link to my website or send you just that photo.  Good luck!