I don't think there is a kid more obsessed with dinos than mine. Truly. Parker plays, eats, sleeps, and breathes dinosaurs! So when talks of his 5th birthday party began (11 ¾ months ago), we both knew exactly what would be in the works.
I bought these tiny little dinosaurs for super cheap on Amazon here and thought they'd be perfect atop some simple cupcakes. I also found this green shredded candy "sprinkles" that I used as grass.
We had 3-feet-tall blow-up dinosaurs, masks for the kids, spray-painted several dinosaurs and made little party hats out of scrapbook paper and pom-poms...then I had to go big for the main attraction. Dinosaur cake, obviously. But lets throw in an exploding volcano, yeah? I started with a mason jar, and built up 1 ½ batches of rice krispie treats around it into a volcano shape, going slightly over the rim of the mason jar. I let it sit out overnight to really harden.
The next day (party day), I used 2 tubs of chocolate icing and iced that baby. I have a large square piece of wood that I've painted white and use for food photography. I bought two 9x13 cake boards from Michael's and placed them side-by-side on my wood board. Kept the cake and my board clean, and the best part is that it wiped clean with a rag! I set the volcano in one corner, and then placed my three 8x8 cake squares around it. Frosted them all with white icing to create one L-shaped cake surrounding the volcano. I wanted to keep the volcano separate from the cake because I knew that if I had placed the volcano on top of the cake, the jello lava would be all over the cake that we would be serving the adults. I spray-pained some of the mini dinosaurs I bought, added some palm trees (after snipping off the round bases), and called it good!
How To Make Your Cake Explode
I wanted a legit lava explosion instead of just smoke from dry ice. I found the idea to use red jello here, and I gotta say, it was genius. You prepare red jello as directed up until the point where you chill it in the refrigerator. Morning of, I picked up some small pieces of dry ice from my local grocery store, thinking I wouldn't need much, and placed it in the freezer of the clubhouse. We go through most of our party, everyone ate, went out to swim at our pool, and then all of the parents gather their kids in for the exciting exploding volcano cake. I run to grab the jello liquid and dry ice, open the freezer and pull out the bag of dry ice.....to find them empty. Empty. No exploding volcano when I had promised everyone the exploding volcano. We did the birthday candles and the song, and afterwards, my Parker said quietly, "Awww, I wanted the exploding volcano...". I was crushed.
The next day I went and got a huge block of dry ice and we did the exploding volcano! Pour the jello liquid into the mason jar. Break the dry ice into cubes with a mallet or hammer, being careful not to handle it with your hands--I used a dishrag.
I dropped several cubes (about the size of the mouth of the jar) into the jello liquid. It starts.
It took about 5 minutes of fast smoking with the dry ice for the lava to begin to bubble up...
but then it came. And all was well in the eyes of my favorite 5-year-old. Dreams really do come true!
Mum of a dino lover says
Can I ask, is it safe to eat the cake after the lava has exploded? Does the dry ice disappear totally and it's just the jello that's left? Thanks.
Kadee says
Yes it is safe to eat after the dry ice is dissolved. Also, the cake is made from Rice Krispies and the "lava" is inside of a mason jar.
Alla says
Hello, just to clarify, do you freeze the dry ice before you put it into the jello or no? I noticed you said you froze it the first time around, but then it did not work. Just want to make sure I get this right for my son's birthday. Thank you in advance!
Kadee says
Sorry Alla, you can not keep dry ice in the freezer for more than a few hours or it disappears. So use the dry ice as soon as possible. This post is very old and needs to be revised, so please excuse the unclear instructions.
April says
I'm making this exploding volcano for my son's birthday today. I prepared the Jello liquid last night and left it out at room temp, however this morning, it is very thick, almost like prepared Jello. Is this how it should be, or do I need to remake it?
Desarae says
if you heat the jello up in the microwave it should return to liquid form.
Maria says
Did you fill the mason jar with dry ice ?
Also was it just one jello pack for how big of a mason jar ?
Kadee says
Drop about a handful of dry ice into the mason jar a couple minutes before serving.
And yes - 1 16oz packet of jello.
Shannon says
I’m going to use Coco pebbles for the volcano. We are gluten free so rice Krispy cereal won’t work for us. Plus with coco pebbles you don’t need to frost it. Win win.
Sara M says
THANK YOU so much for this - I just made this cake yesterday for my son’s 3rd birthday and I literally felt like a hero it was so awesome.
For those attempting: I used a large mason jar (32 ou) and I had to make THREE batches of rice crispy treats to build it. I bought the dry ice day of (thanks for that tip!) and also did a test run a few days before. My advice is to go big on dry ice - you’ll get more drama! I think I filled the mason jar about 1/4th full. I used one big size jello packets to be sure I had enough, and I made the jello mix shortly before - it was pretty cool though so it doesn’t need to be hot but I don’t think I would refrigerate it. If I could post a picture on here I would - it was epic!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!
Anshul says
A very interesting idea. I would really love to try this out. So if I understand correctly, you just make jello liquid and pour it into the volcano, add dry ice and that's it? Adding dry ice would make the jello bubble out ?I was thinking that the cold due to dry ice would make jello solidify. Please clarify.
Anshul
Kadee says
Yes, you are correct. The liquid jello bubbles up and over the volcano.
Sarah says
Hi! Did the liquid jello have to be kept hot or was it room temp? Did you use any water? Thank you!
Erin says
I have the same question about the temp of the jello liquid. Can it be room temp/cold??? Just wondering if I can prep it the day before or even that am?
Sarah says
IT looks like a great idea. I don't really understand about the cake pans/keeping the other cake separate. did you put the volcano on the board or on the pan? I would also love to see a further out picture to get a better idea of how it all looked together. Such a lot of fun!
Brittney says
Oh my gosh this is THe coolest!!! WAs the volcano edible after it erupted? My son is obsessed with volcanos and dinosaurs and i'm totally going to make this for him! Great idea!!!!
Stephanie says
Hey Brittney! Haha so glad you like it, it was such a blast to make and my son was obsessed too. There's nothing wrong with eating the jello liquid mixed with liquid nitrogen. If your party go-ers are into jello liquid all over a chocolate rice krispie, more power to them :) Tag us in any pictures you take after making it, I'd LOVE to see how yours turned out!
Jen says
Do you have any coloured pictures of the entire cake instead of zoomed in black and white ones? They look great, but i'd love to see the whole thing.
Stephanie says
Hey Jen! The overhead shot of the backward L white frosted cake and the chocolate volcano sitting adjacent to it is how I presented the cake. You could rest the volcano halfway on the flat sheet cake and halfway off, or just leave it nestled right next to it. Tag us in any pictures you post, we'd love to see the final product!