How to Make a Woodland Log Cake

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6.

Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack. Turn the biscuits over to use as clumps of moss to decorate a woodland themed cake or crumble them up to top cupcakes.

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Fan 200C/Gas Mark 7 and line your tin with greaseproof paper.

Whisk the sugar and eggs together in a bowl until very light and creamy – this will take a few minutes, less with an electric whisk.

Top Tip!

The mixture should be at 'ribbon stage', when you lift the whisk into the air with some of the mixture on it, it will fall back into the bowl in ribbons which slowly disappear back into the mixture.

Sift together the flour and 4-5tbsp of cocoa and gently fold half of it into the whisked mixture using a metal spoon. Fold in the remaining flour, ensuring everything is incorporated and there are no lumps of flour. Stir in the hot water.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top, making sure the mixture goes into the corners. Bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes until well risen and spongy to the touch.

Whilst the cake is baking, have a sheet of greaseproof paper ready on your work surface and sprinkle it with a dusting of cocoa. Turn the cake out onto the paper and peel away the greaseproof paper it was baked in. Take another fresh sheet of greaseproof paper, lay it on top of the sponge and roll everything up together in a tight roll. Leave the rolled up cake with the paper to go completely cold.

Whilst the cake is cooling make the filling. Put half a jar of lemon curd into a bowl and add a tiny bit of yellow food colour paste to make it a brighter shade of yellow.

Top Tip!

You can omit this stage if you wish – I wanted the filling to look reminiscent of the inside of a gooey Crème Egg!

Beat together 100g unsalted butter and 200g icing sugar to make a buttercream. Add the juice of half a lemon a little at a time and beat the mixture until smooth. Gently unroll the cold cake and carefully spread the sponge with the buttercream and a layer of lemon curd.

Reroll the cake and put on a cake board with the join on the underside. Secure the cake in place with a blob or 2 of chocolate fudge icing. Cut one end of the log off at an angle and position this to the side of the cake to look like a branch.

Cover the whole cake with chocolate fudge icing, using a small palette knife to make bark-like ridges and grooves. Decorate with moss biscuits and extra moss crumbs.

To make the toadstools, roll a variety of different sized stalks from the white modelling paste. Use the red modelling paste to shape different toadstool tops – some pointy and some flatter and wider. Use the end of a paintbrush to make an indentation in the underside of the tops so that the stalks can be inserted. Use edible glue to secure the toadstool tops in place on the stalks.

When the toadstools have hardened slightly dot edible glue on the red tops and sprinkle with tiny white sprinkles.

Decorate the log with the toadstools and add a few flowers if you wish.

Top Tip!

You can further enhance your cake with chocolate biscuit (Oreo) crumbs and crumbled Shredded Wheat to give a more earthy appearance to the forest floor.