MO Forest Cake —
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
⅛ tsp. salt
½ cup butter, softened
1¾ cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1⅓ cups buttermilk
berry jam or jelly
Deep Fudge Glaze
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. corn syrup
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. instant coffee crystals
2 cups powdered sugar
2-4 Tbsp. milk
Grease and flour two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans and set aside. Then preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and set that aside. In a large bowl, beat butter on high for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla and mix well. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Alternately, add the dry ingredients and buttermilk to the batter, beating until just combined.
Pour into the prepared pans and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove the layers from the pans and finish cooling. Spread a thin layer of your favorite wild berry jam or jelly between the cake layers. We’re using black raspberry, but you can choose seedless raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, anything you like.
Make a deep fudge glaze by melting chocolate chips, butter, corn syrup, vanilla and coffee until smooth. Stir in powdered sugar and milk until you have a spreadable consistency and frost the top layer of your cake.
Use extra berries or your favorite wildflowers for garnish, and you’ll have an elegant dessert with a Missouri motif!
https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/recipes
