Super Cute Forest Cake In Five Minutes (For Lag B’Omer?)

I love cake decor that is simple and cute, and as quick as humanly possible while still looking great. This little mushroom forest cake satisfies all of the above, and so I just had to share it with you!  Last Shabbat we had some special guests— my neighbor, a mother of 6, who just donated one of her kidneys to her youngest son, came with three of her children. Her son was completing his two week stay in the hospital, so she came home for a little respite while her husband stayed in the hospital with their son. The transplant was a success, ( and we were all so relieved ) so I wanted to make a festive meal, which of course requires a decorated cake of some kind, right? Now I should add, that this particular neighbor, who grew up in France is actually quite a cake baker herself, so I went with my most basic tried and true chocolate cake recipe, and she even asked me for the recipe! Truthfully she said it reminded her of brownies, I think that may have been on account of the fact that I burned it a bit, but it was still delicious. Now that’s a good cake recipe!

You’ll Need:

• A chocolate cake, baked in a bundt pan, my  favorite recipe here
• Chocolate mocha glaze, recipe here, (using Dutch cocoa of course)
• Vanilla sandwich cookies with chocolate filling (mine were, no surprise, “Dutch style”)
• Decorative mushrooms on wires, a few sizes (I used three) if possible,  (And you won’t be surprised at the third Dutch connection— I got these mushrooms in Amsterdam at Action, a discount store in DePijp, do look for craft supplies on your travels!)

How To:

Bake your cake. When it cools, make glaze and pour over cake using a large spoon such that it drips down the sides nicely. Crush a few sandwich cookies into little chunks and sprinkle over the top of the cake. Place your mushrooms in a sort of random order around the top of the cake, and voila! Now if you don’t have any mushrooms, you could certainly use some little animals. And since tonight is Lag B’Omer, how about making a smaller version of these arrows and sticking those in the cake, that could be lots of fun!