For his sixth birthday, my son requested a "green", eco-friendly party. What is a mother to do but to oblige to such a worthy request? When it came to deciding what type of birthday cake he would have, he wanted a forest cake. A Black Forest cake? No, a forest cake because "trees clean the air." Well!

The cake is a white velvet cake from my old standby, The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum iced with milk chocolate swiss meringue buttercream from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle. The trees are inverted sugar ice cream cones piped with decorator's buttercream.