Today Jenn Johns shows you how to make a birch bark log cake, and hiding inside is a pink camouflage cake design! This is perfect for anyone celebrating the start of fall, specifically hunting season!
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With the success of our Lumberjack cake I put up for Canada day, I knew I wanted to make another log cake- one that had the carved initials in the cake! There are birch trees all around me in the forest here where I live, so it wasn’t hard to find the inspiration- all I had to do was pay attention to the forest when I was in it! They’re one of the first trees to change color in the fall, so immediately they came to mind. What also comes in the fall? Hunting season. I have previously done a camouflage cupcake in honour of the hunters out there, but it was time to do one for the lady hunters! Pink camo! One of my friends is obsessed with pink camo and her and her daughter dress in it head to toe daily. Don’t ask m what they think they’re camouflaging in to. Ha! I have no idea why pink camo exists, but I’m not here to judge it- just embrace it!
For this cake tutorial, I wanted to show you a different way to make a log cake than when I made the lumberjack one. For this birch bark log, I am using fondant and etching in the rings of the tree in a different way than I did before. I wish I had enough circle cutters to complete the top of the cake with them, but since I didn’t, I had to come up with another way to make the rings. A fork it was! Adding in cracks makes the cake look more realistic, so make sure to add some of those in the top! I used black gel paste to mark the sides of the cake to create the bark, and added a little bit of cocoa for dimension. Birch bark cakes are really popular for weddings as well. I’m not sure why, but I’m guessing it’s the initials that are carved into the cake. You can use any pointed tool to make the etching into the cake, and dust it with some more cocoa powder for it to stand out.
If you’re headed out hunting flamingos this fall, make sure to wear your pink camo!
How to Make a Birch Bark Log cake w Hidden Pink Camouflage
Ingredients and Materials:
- Prepared vanilla cake batter ()
- Fondant- white
- Prepared pink vanilla buttercream ()
- Black, pink and white gel paste
Procedure:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Flour or grease two 8″ round cake pans.
- Prepare cake batter according to the recipe. Divde into four equal portions in four separate bowls. In one bowl put one drop of pink gel paste, the second 3-5 drops, and the third a large squeeze of gel paste. In the fourth, put white colouring in. Mix each batter until no light streaks remain. Alternately drop spoonfuls of each colored cake batter into the two cake pans until all of the batter is used up.
- Bake cakes in the oven for 30 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before leveling.
- Attach the first cake layer to a cake board using a smear of icing. Cover the cake layer with pink buttercream. Place second layer on top of the first, and cover the entire stacked cake in pink buttercream.
- Roll out a round piece of white fondant, the same diameter as the top of your cake- 8″. Place the fondant on top of the cake and smooth down. Using cookie cutters, press the “rings” of the tree into the fondant. To create the larger rings, use a fork and press into the fondant while turning the cake around on a turntable. Brush the top with cocoa powder and add any “cracks” as desired.
- Roll out a rectangle piece of fondant measuring the height and circumference of your cake (26″x 3.5″). Wrap this piece of fondant around the side of the cake, smooth into place. Remove any excess fondant on top or on the board with a sharp knife.
- Using a paintbrush and black gel paste, lightly stripe the sides of the cake for the bark effect. Brush lightly with cocoa in spots as well.
- Etch a heart and initials into the bark if desired using a sharp fondant tool. Brush etched area with cocoa powder.
- Keep cake in fridge until you are ready to serve . It is best consumed within 2-3 days.
