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Parve
Easy
2 Hours, 30 Minutes
Diets 
Here’s something fun to create in honor of Lag BaOmer: an awesome wooden log cake, with an even more awesome surprise inside. Don’t be scared off by the cool design on this cake. You don’t even need to be able to draw a straight line to get the woody effect. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make this cake come together!
1 (12-inch) loaf pan
red gel food coloring
yellow gel food coloring
rectangular cake board
3-inch flame-shaped cookie cutter
angled (offset) spatula
skewer
piping bag (optional)
grass tip (#233) with coupler (optional)
12 eggs
3 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons Gefen Vanilla Sugar
4 cups Glicks Flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup oil, such as Gefen Canola Oil
3/4 cup orange juice
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons coffee diluted in 1/4 cup water
1 (9-ounce) bag Glicks Chocolate Chips
1/2 teaspoon rum extract
2 cups Gefen Confectioners’ Sugar
In a bowl, beat eggs and sugars on high speed for a full 10 minutes.
Add flour, baking powder, oil, and orange juice and mix on medium speed for another few minutes. Set batter aside.
In a bowl, beat margarine and eggs on high for five minutes. Set aside.
In a double boiler, melt together granulated sugar, diluted coffee, chocolate chips, and rum extract. Add to the margarine/eggs and beat to combine.
Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar, beating to combine. Set frosting aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 12-inch loaf pan and set aside.
Measure two cups of the prepared cake batter, transferring them to a separate bowl.
Add a few drops of red food coloring to the bowl and mix with a spatula until the color is evenly distributed. Pour the red batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Measure another two cups of batter, transferring to a separate bowl. Add a few drops of yellow food coloring and mix with a spatula until the color is evenly distributed.
Drizzle yellow batter over the red batter and then swirl with a fork, as you would to create a marble cake. Tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles in the batter.
Bake 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool.
Using a sharp knife, slice the cake. The slices should be as thick as your cookie cutter is deep.
Wash the loaf pan and grease it again. Set aside.
Taking the first slice, use the cookie cutter to cut out the shape of a flame. Place the flame in the pan so that it stands up. Repeat with all the slices, creating a row of flames down the center of the pan (with no space between them).
Pour the (uncolored) batter over the flames, covering them almost completely. The pan should be filled a little more than three-fourths of the way. (You will have extra batter, but do not overfill the pan.)
Bake 50–60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool.
Place on the cake board, using a dab of frosting to hold the cake in place.
Using an offset spatula, generously frost the entire cake. There should be a thick layer of frosting so there’s some depth when you make the log’s ridges.
Using the rounded side of the skewer, draw a few circles at different heights, and of different sizes and shapes, across the cake. Draw vertical lines in the frosting, going around the bends of the circles. Keep a paper towel handy to wipe the skewer clean between strokes. Remember, no perfection needed! It’s okay for it to look messy. When you step back, the overall pattern will look right. Decorate the top of the cake in the same way.
Optional grass decoration: Add some green frosting to a piping bag fitted with a grass tip, and dot the sides of the log with grass. (To make your own: Beat together 3¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, 1 stick margarine, 3–4 tablespoons water, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and a few drops of green food coloring. You will have extra frosting.)
Photography by Chay Berger
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