The Ingredient Ina Garten Uses To Serve Cake Like A Restaurant

Whether you've invested time into whipping up your favorite cake for friends and family or you're simply slicing up a store-bought option, you may want to go the extra mile when it's time to serve dessert. Fortunately, there are ways to give your cake slices a restaurant-worthy look with very little effort.

Our all-time favorite Ina Garten desserts give plenty of baking inspiration, but the beloved cookbook author and James Beard Award-winning TV host also has a game-changing tip when it comes to serving cake. It doesn't even require any special equipment — just a single ingredient and a few seconds. Garten suggests spooning a little raspberry sauce onto your dish before plating a slice of cake on top. This can be accomplished quickly and easily by using the back of a spoon to spread the sauce around the plate (although you can also get creative with smears, swoops, drizzles, or drops).

This genius trick takes just seconds of your time and makes a major difference not only to your presentation, but flavor, too. Plus, if you're not a fan of raspberry or have something special in mind, you can even personalize your sauce and cake combination for an unforgettable dessert experience that is undeniably your own.

One reason Ina Garten's special ingredient for serving cake is so appealing is aesthetics. Raspberry sauce provides a pop of contrasting color to each slice — whether it's a fluffy coconut layer cake, a classic pound cake, or a rich dark chocolate cake. But Garten isn't the only pro baker to leverage a fruity spread as part of their cake service; Mary Berry also has a jam hack for better frosted cakes. Additionally, this plating technique is functional for flavor, too.

Fruit jams — raspberry or otherwise — have a tartness that is super delicious when paired with a sweet, decadent slice of cake. The slight acidity not only cuts through all the sugar, bringing each bite into balance, but it also elevates and amplifies the flavors developed in your dessert, adding some extra complexity. Foods are considered acidic when they fall below 4.6 on the pH scale; jams are usually around 3.5 to 4.5 pH, while a raspberry puree can be between 3.0 and 3.8 pH.

This trick isn't limited to raspberry sauce, though. Pair cherry with chocolate (like Garten's coffee-spiked Beatty cake), mango with coconut, or strawberry with cheesecake. You can make coulis from scratch in your preferred flavor or simply grab your favorite jam from the store and loosen it with a bit of water so that it spreads easily. No matter which fruity sauce you choose, this pro-tip will upgrade your cake's flavor and set a restaurant-worthy scene fit for any sweet celebration.