Tomorrow is Aum's birthday party, and Emily and I had said we'd make his birthday cake. Sounds like a relatively easy task - except for the fact that he requested a 'volcano cake'! We made a normal chocolate cake (see recipe below) but made sure the top layer was a little smaller than the bottom, and we also made a few cupcakes with the leftover mixture to help with the construction!
Once it was all cooked and cooled, we made some buttercream (again see recipe below) and used it to sandwich the two cakes together, and using the cupcakes cut in half, we made a little stack on the top to add height to the 'volcano'. Then we put the buttercream all over the cake, which made it easier to mould into the shape we wanted.
By now it was starting to look like it was supposed to, then we just had to add the 'lava'. We used normal icing sugar, but didn't add quite so much water so it was a little less runny. Emily had some food colour pigments that we used, which are a lot more concentrated than traditional food colouring, and produce much better results (they are also easier to mix to create different shades etc). We managed to create a really good orange colour, and we literally just dropped spoonfuls of it onto the top so it dripped down the sides, creating an authentic effect. We did the same with yellow icing, and then using a cocktail stick dipped in red colouring, drew some streaks into both the orange and yellow lava paths for a finishing touch. After an hour in the fridge it was set and looked brilliant, and we even found some sparklers that we can put in the top on the day to make it look like it is erupting!
Cake Recipe
175g butter
300g caster sugar
3 eggs
200g plain flour
75g cocoa
200ml sour cream
50g cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla essence
We also added 1 tsp orange flavouring to make it chocolate orange flavour!
Buttercream Recipe
75g butter
175g chocolate
300g icing sugar
125ml sour cream
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