Whether you are celebrating a first birthday, baby shower or any occasion, this woodland cake with cream cheese frosting will certainly get you in the mood for flannel, hiking and the great outdoors!

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I never considered myself an outdoorsman. I grew up in the burbs of Houston, Texas. As an adult, I’ve lived in Tucson, Miami, Los Angeles and San Diego. None of these cities evoke images of towering trees, majestic mountains or furry little critters.

But I love being outdoors, losing myself in nature, hiking in the woods. I am able to relax, decompress and get inspired all at the same time when I am immersed in a beautiful setting.

My niece, is quite the opposite. When I first married her uncle, she was 13 years old. We lived in Glendale, outside of Los Angeles and I took Nassim out for a hike in the easy trails around my neighborhood.

We had to walk through a small path between some bushy wildflowers that were buzzing with bees. She screamed. We continued our walk.

Five minutes later, a big lizard scurried across our path. Nassim practically jumped into my arms. I laughed, she remained on edge.

“I am not a nature girl,” she exclaimed. “I’m a city girl!”

I laughed so hard, and reassured her we were only 10 feet from my subdivision with asphalt streets and fenced in homes. To this day, Nassim and I still laugh about that day.

Now she is a beautiful momma to two sweet baby boys. Her youngest just turned one. Keeping up with our tradition, I made her boy his very own personal birthday cake.

And the theme for this baby’s birthday and the decor for his baby room? Woodlands, of course. The irony is ridiculous.

This woodland cake inspiration came from Whisk and Wander. Because I was making an individual cake for a one-year old to destroy on his own, I didn’t need to make a three tiered cake. Here’s the 6-inch cake pan I use.

Although I did use a box mix for this cake, my go-to birthday cake recipe is my vanilla olive oil cake. My favorite frosting is always homemade. My cream cheese frosting is my personal favorite.

The animals for our woodland cake were chosen by Momma Bear herself. She bought the grizzly bear, reindeer and fox from Michael’s but you can also find similar items on Amazon. The weather was a bit hot the day of the party, so the frosting got a little soft while it sat on the table.

The trees on the woodland cake are fresh rosemary from my garden. The green forest floor is crumbled graham crackers mixed with matcha (green tea) powder. I made the pennant banner myself, glued it to some twine and tied it some twigs.

I have a free printable for you if you want to make the same bunting cake topper for your woodland cake. Click here for the printable.

City Momma loved the cake. I loved the cake. Baby really loved the cake. It was tremendous fun putting this woodland cake together. I hope you find an occasion, ANY occasion, to make one for yourself!

Yield: 1 6-inch cake

Woodland Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Whether you are celebrating a first birthday, baby shower or any occasion, this woodland cake with cream cheese frosting will certainly get you in the mood for flannel, hiking and the great outdoors!

Ingredients

One 6-inch 2-layer vanilla olive oil cake
2 ounces unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 tsp matcha powder
4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Instructions

Mix and bake vanilla olive oil cake recipe and cool to room temperature on a cooling rack.
Using an electric mixer whip butter and cream cheese until smooth.
Slowly mix in 1/2 cup powdered sugar and vanilla extract.
Continuing mixing remaining powdered sugar until smooth.
Place one layer of cake on cake stand and frost.
Place second layer over first and continue frosting to desired finish.
In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and matcha powder until crumbs are all moss green.
Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over the top of the cake.
Place animal figures over the matcha covered crumbs and add sprigs of fresh rosemary to resemble trees.
If using free printable pennant, print it out and assemble on a piece of string. Tie string pennant to two twigs and place in the cake.
Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.