DESSERT RECIPES

Woodland Animals Cake

Updated

A rustic three-layer chocolate cherry birthday cake with a thin naked-cake frosting, decorated as a little forest with marzipan woodland animals, cinnamon-stick logs, rosemary trees and cookie-crumb soil.

Prep
2 hr
Cook
45 min
Total
5 hr 30 min
Yield
One 8-inch three-layer cake (12 to 16 slices)
Illustration of Woodland Animals Cake

This woodland birthday cake is a classic from the KitchenSimplicity archive and a fun project for a child who loves animals and the outdoors. Underneath the forest scene are three moist chocolate layers stacked with cherry filling, a nod to black forest cake, wrapped in a thin coat of vanilla buttercream so the dark cake peeks through the sides in true naked-cake style.

The decorations are simple and forgiving: small marzipan foxes, fawns and raccoons (or clean toy animals), cinnamon sticks laid like fallen logs, sprigs of rosemary standing in for pine trees and crushed chocolate cookies for soil. Kids can help spread frosting and arrange the scene, and nearly everything can be made the day before the party.

Tips

  • Only have two pans? Weigh the batter and divide it into three equal portions, baking the third once a pan is free, so every layer bakes to the same height.
  • Make the cake layers, filling, buttercream and animals the day before. Wrap the cooled layers and keep them at room temperature with the buttercream; refrigerate the cherry filling.
  • This amount of buttercream suits a thin naked-cake finish. To fully frost the cake, make 1 1/2 times the buttercream.
  • For a richer black forest flavor, spread a thin layer of chocolate ganache over each layer before the cherry filling.

Woodland Animals Cake

Prep
2 hr
Cook
45 min
Total
5 hr 30 min
Yield
One 8-inch three-layer cake (12 to 16 slices)

Ingredients

  • For the chocolate cake:
  • 3 cups (640 g) packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 2/3 cups (333 g) all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup (64 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/3 cups (320 g) sour cream
  • 1 1/3 cups (320 ml) boiling water
  • For the cherry filling:
  • 4 cups (about 600 g) pitted sweet or tart cherries, fresh or frozen
  • 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • For the whipped vanilla buttercream:
  • 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar, sifted
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • For decorating:
  • About 7 oz (200 g) marzipan or fondant, plus gel food coloring in orange, brown, black and white (or small food-safe toy animals)
  • 4 to 6 cinnamon sticks
  • 4 to 6 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 6 to 8 chocolate sandwich cookies, finely crushed

Steps

  1. Make the cherry filling: in a saucepan, stir the sugar and cornstarch together, then add the water, lemon juice and cherries. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture boils and turns thick and glossy, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cool, then refrigerate until cold.
  2. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment.
  3. Beat the brown sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then add the vanilla and beat on medium-high until light.
  4. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together. Add to the butter mixture in three parts, alternating with the sour cream in two parts, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined.
  5. Stir in the boiling water until the batter is smooth and evenly blended; it will be thin.
  6. Divide the batter evenly among the pans (weighing each pan helps). Bake for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  7. Cool the cakes in their pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out, peel off the parchment and cool completely on a wire rack.
  8. Make the buttercream: beat the butter in a stand mixer for about 6 minutes, until very pale. Add the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and beat for another 6 minutes, until light and creamy.
  9. Shape the animals: tint portions of marzipan and model a few small foxes, fawns and raccoons, using tiny pieces of black and white for eyes, noses and markings. Let them firm up on parchment, ideally overnight.
  10. To assemble, level the cake tops if needed. Place one layer on a cake plate and pipe a ring of buttercream around its edge to form a dam. Spoon half of the cherry filling inside the ring.
  11. Add the second layer, pipe another dam and fill with the remaining cherry filling. Top with the third layer, bottom side up.
  12. Spread buttercream over the top, then scrape a thin layer around the sides with a bench scraper or offset spatula so the chocolate cake shows through. Chill for 20 minutes to set.
  13. Decorate: scatter crushed cookies over the top as soil, lay cinnamon sticks as logs, stand rosemary sprigs as trees and arrange the animals. Remove the cinnamon sticks, rosemary and any toys before serving.

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