For the past three years I have had the pleasure of making birthday cakes for the same little guy. The first birthday was Dr.Seuss themed, the next year was “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”. This year for his 3rd birthday, it was Dinosaur themed cake. This cake was not to be just a any dinosaur cake, it was going to be a cake with a dinosaur and an erupting volcano! This was definitely a new challenge that I was excited to tackle.
I did some research with the birthday boy’s mom and we decided that the coolest effect for the volcano would be to use dry ice. It took a bit of digging to find out where to buy dry ice, but in the end, it was definitely worth the extra effort!
When making the cake, it took quite a bit of time to scuplt the volcano, using four 6 in. rounds, and to carefully fit an empty water bottle down the centre. I also used cake crumbs mixed with icing to build the base and make it more volcano-ish. I gently draped fondant over the volcano and let the bumps and lumps stay since they gave it more character. The volcano was then placed on top of a 10 in. round for the island/ocean base. At this point it looked pretty good, but I knew that it was going to be the finishing touches that would really make this cake stand out. I scuplted a Stegosaurus (specifically requested by the birthday boy) using fondant and gum paste and I also made palm trees using the same mixture. I couldn’t forget the lava, so I rolled red/orange fondant for streams of lava oozing out of the volcano. Some graham cracker crumbs for sand, and two toned buttercream icing for the ocean made it all come together. The late late night, I pulled to finish the cake was worth it! I was looking forward to seeing the little guy’s reaction and to seeing photos of the eruption once the dry ice was added at the party.
When I delivered the cake, the family’s reaction was awesome! The little guy’s eyes widened as he happily exclaimed, “That’s my cake!” It’s so fun now that he is more aware of his birthday and all the little details. I found out later that they kept the cake after the party so they could have fun and make it erupt over and over. I loved that!
I love creating cakes and taking the time to do my best, for my own satisfaction, but the reactions I receive from all my hard work, are my favourite part!
