Volcano Cake with Steam & Dinosaurs

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This Volcano Cake post is sponsored by Universal Brand Development and Mattel, and all opinions are my own.

My two little boys love pretending to be dinosaurs and that usually involves pretending there is an explosive volcano near by.  When we saw all the new Jurassic World dinosaur toys at Walmart, I immediately knew what would be at the top of their wish list this year.  We let them open some of their Jurassic World presents early and we had a little party complete with a volcano cake!  

This volcano cake blows “steam” out the top like a real volcano!  

I think I just achieved the “coolest mom of the day” status from my two little guys for this one!  They loved everything about the volcano cake and had so much fun playing with their new Jurassic World toys too.  One of the best things was watching their eyes when they saw the steam blowing from the top of the cake.  So fun! 

Also, I can hear them in the other room right now playing with all their new toys together.  My husband and I are really happy when we find toys that they love to play together.  

This was the first time I’ve made a volcano cake and it was such a fun project to make.  The volcano cake is made with four 8-inch layers of cake so that it is really tall when it’s all stacked up.  I also didn’t want to buy a special pan for the cake and so I ended up carving the cake into the volcano shape.  

The cake turned out so cool and it was the perfect addition to all the Jurassic World toys we gave our boys.  This volcano cake would be great for a birthday party or a get together.  All the kids will be thrilled when they see the fun steam coming out the top of the cake like a real volcano! 

The other thing our kids loved about this cake is that the decorations are real toys they can play with!  I wanted the toys they picked out to be fierce and powerful and the Jurassic World toys were perfect for it.  Jurassic World toys made the whole scene more realistic looking. 

The dinosaur that I put in the background of the cake is the Jurassic World Battle Damage Roarin’ Super Colossal Tyrannosaurus Rex.  When you open her mouth she roars! 

Another of the toys we used is the little Jurassic World Battle Damage Herrerasaurus Dinosaur.  She really looks fierce as well and was perfect standing next to the volcano cake. 

One of my boys’ favorite of the bunch was the Jurassic World Villain Dino Figure- Indoraptor.  They love posing her in all different ways and she looked great next to the tall volcano!

After we had our cake and they had fun playing with all of those dinosaurs, I surprised them with the Imaginext Jurassic World Jurassic Rex Dinosaur Play Set.  She chomps, she roars and her eyes glow from green to red.  My youngest boy loved this one the most because he can control the dinosaur so well on his own by just pressing the handle on the back. 

Imaginext was chosen as one of the top rated toys at Walmart and it’s not hard to see why!   These dinosaur toys are so fun and exciting for my kids. 

It’s not usual for me to say that I want to make a cake a second time, but this volcano cake is one that I would do again and again.  The steam is made from dry ice and it was so much fun to work with.  I love how it looked with the candy fire at the top too. 

Just be very careful when working with dry ice and especially around kids.  I suggest using gloves and even using tongs to handle it.  It’s definitely something that is for adults only to handle.  Also, if you are using the dry ice in an enclosed area then make sure to open a window. 

The little extra work of handling the dry ice was totally worth it in my opinion.  

The fire candy that is on top of the volcano is made from butterscotch and cinnamon hard candy disks.  Just break them up inside a plastic bag with a hammer.  Use a foil lined baking sheet and add the crushed candy in little piles like the picture above.  

Melt the candies in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes and then take them out when they have flattened.  Use a metal or wood stick to mix them even more when they are still hot.  You can also pull out the edges a little to  make it look more like fire.  They will harden quickly at this point so work fast!  

When the candies have completely cooled down you can use your candy fire.  If the pieces are too big then just break them into smaller pieces. The lava oozing from the top of the cake is made from a mixture of powdered sugar, food coloring and light corn syrup. 

Add 1/2 cup of corn syrup, 2 Tbsp. of powdered sugar and the food coloring to make it look like lava.  I made both yellow and red separately for this cake. You may need more powdered sugar if it is too watery so mix in more until you get the consistency you want.  

The cake is iced with a chocolate buttercream that I could eat alone it’s so good!  Here is the recipe for the chocolate buttercream: 

I made each layer of the cake a different flavor, but you can make yours whatever flavors you like.  Make sure that there is a layer of the buttercream between each cake to hold it all together.  I used 4 layers of cake that were each 2 inches high and 8 inches around. 

You might want to freeze the layers of cake with plastic wrap wrapped around them before carving.  I didn’t freeze mine, but I think the frozen cake would be a little easier to carve out and ice.  

Icing this cake was a breeze because I wasn’t too concerned with smoothing out the sides.  I piped out the icing first around the sides and top before smoothing it all out.  This cake didn’t need a crumb coat because the crumbs really added to the natural look! 

I also added chocolate covered candies and peanut candies to the bottom of the cake to look like rocks.  They looked great on the cake and of course everyone loved the taste of the “rocks” too. 

To make the volcano cake really steam you’ll need a cup to provide a barrier between the cake and the dry ice.  You’ll want a plastic cup that is skinny and long for the best results.  Cut a hole at the top of the cake big enough for the cup to fit into. 

You will be cutting into several layers of the cake and so be careful to cut into the cake slowly and replace the hole you made with the cup immediately afterward to make sure the cake doesn’t cave in.  When you are ready to let the cake steam then add the dry ice (with gloves on) and you can even add the dry ice with a pair of tongs for safety.  

To make it turn into steam just add some water to the cup and dry ice.  It will start to “steam” immediately.  This is my favorite part! 

Just add your fun Jurassic World toys around the volcano cake for the coolest cake ever!  Add as many Jurassic World toys as you want.  The more the merrier.  I think any dinosaur and volcano loving kid would love a cake like this one! 

Be sure to check out all the Jurassic World toys at Walmart.  Walmart has 2-day shipping, but can be purchased in-store as well! 

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