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Baking Expert
Catherine Christiansen
Who Doesn’t
Lava
Good Dessert?
The Amazing Erupting Volcano Cake
There’s nothing like the pyrotechnics of erupting volcano cake with burbling lava, billowing smoke and sparkling candles. And the spectacle can be had relatively simply. Really.
Bake up a rich chocolate Bundt cake and three 8-inch layers, soak them in Kahlua syrup, stack them around a tall juice glass and frost with a quick, jet black buttercream. Boil some sugar and tint it red for candy lava. Add plastic palm trees, a few dinosaurs and a marzipan virgin if you want to gild the lily.
The thing to remember about the cake is that it’s a geological formation, which allows you to check your perfectionism at the door. Get messy; get crafty, get the kids in the kitchen and chocolaty fun will ensue.
The eruption itself is the easiest part: Thin some marshmallow fluff with hot water, tint it pink, pour it into the juice glass in the cake with dry ice and add some more hot water. Voila! Bubbling, steaming, day-glo lava that will last for a full 10 minutes.
While the steps are simple, it does take a bit of time to get it done. Baking, assembling, frosting and planting the palm trees will take a good three hours. You can also do a bit of the baking and prepping in advance, which makes things easier on eruption day.
The marzipan villagers are another story. My 21-year-old accomplice, Rachel Tallent, created each perfect little person, working in her lab every night for a week. If you like that sort of meditative detail work, go for it. If not, plastic people are okay. (But just on the cake—not in real life.)
Have fun!!
Amazing Erupting Volcano Cake
Chocolate Layer Cake
Quick Black Chocolate Buttercream
Quick Plain Buttercream
Kahlua Soaking Syrup
Lava Sugar
Fluff Lava
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