Woodland Log Cake with Marzipan Mushrooms

Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cup sugar
¼ cup oil (vegetable or light olive, etc.)
2 large eggs
⅓ cup buttermilk
Zest of1 small orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely grated carrot
½ cup crushed pineapple (drained)

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 10-by-15-inch jelly roll sheet pan or quarter sheet pan with parchment paper. Cut the paper so it goes up the sides of the pan.

Sift the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine sugar, oil, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and orange zest in a large bowl and mix until smooth.

Add in the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth. Fold in the carrots and pineapple until fully incorporated.

Slowly pour the batter into your prepared pan and use an offset spatula to smooth out any pieces of carrot that may be sticking up. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The cake is done when the center springs back when pressed lightly.

While baking, lay a kitchen towel flat on your counter and dust it with powdered sugar. Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven, carefully lift it out of the pan and invert onto the prepared towel.

Peel back the parchment paper and roll the cake tightly, then place the rolled cake on a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cake cools, prepare the frosting.

Frosting

1 cup salted butter, softened
4 to 5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy whipping cream, warmed slightly

¼ cup caramel sauce (your favorite recipe or store-bought)

In a mixing bowl, add the butter, a splash of heavy whipping cream, and the vanilla. With an electric mixer, beat together for 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Remove half the frosting to another bowl and set aside.

Add in the caramel sauce and mix until completely incorporated. Set aside.

Carefully unroll the cake and spread the plain buttercream frosting about a quarter inch thick on the inside of the cake. Roll the cake back up. Cover the outside of the roll with the caramel buttercream.

Use the tip of a spoon to lightly pull through the frosting horizontally

to make tree bark. Use a sharp knife to cut a thin slice from the front and back of the roll to cleanly expose the spiral inside.

I decorated my finished log with edible flowers from my garden, marzipan mushrooms, and cake-crumb moss. You can easily find edible flowers online. (I like magnoliasyarden.com, for example, but make sure you’re ordering flowers that are organic and definitely edible; pansies and violas are almost always safe.) I make my own marzipan, but you can buy ready-made marzipan at the store. Sculpt it like clay, and then paint your creations with gel coloring. To make cake-crumb moss, use your favorite white cake recipe (it can even be from a box), add green coloring to the batter, and bake normally. Once the cake is baked and completely cooled, simply crumble it up and voilà!

Store your woodland log cake in an airtight container in the fridge until it’s ready to serve.