Introduction: Gluten-free Chocolate Volcano Cupcakes
My five year old son loves these mini volcanos because he gets to watch a live volcano 'eruption' at the end as well as eating loads of chocolate frosting while he makes them!
Hope you like them too :)
You will need:
For the cake:-
Cupcake mix
Mini bundt tin
A little melted butter
Gluten-free flour for dusting
Start by melting a little butter and brushing it all over the mini bundt tin. Sprinkle the tin with a little GF flour until it is coated all over then tip it upside down and tap the bottom to get rid of any excess, this helps make sure that absolutely nothing stays stuck to the tin.
Pretty much any cupcake mix will work, today we were lazy and used a packet mix (Mrs Crimble's Gluten-free) but normally use 75g butter, caster sugar and GF self raising flour whipped together with 2 eggs and a drop of milk.
Pour the mix into the cupcake tray filling each cup to about half way.
Put the cakes in the oven until cooked and then set aside for 20 minutes to cool.
Hope you like them too :)
You will need:
For the cake:-
Cupcake mix
Mini bundt tin
A little melted butter
Gluten-free flour for dusting
Start by melting a little butter and brushing it all over the mini bundt tin. Sprinkle the tin with a little GF flour until it is coated all over then tip it upside down and tap the bottom to get rid of any excess, this helps make sure that absolutely nothing stays stuck to the tin.
Pretty much any cupcake mix will work, today we were lazy and used a packet mix (Mrs Crimble's Gluten-free) but normally use 75g butter, caster sugar and GF self raising flour whipped together with 2 eggs and a drop of milk.
Pour the mix into the cupcake tray filling each cup to about half way.
Put the cakes in the oven until cooked and then set aside for 20 minutes to cool.
Step 1: Decorating the Cakes
You will need:
For the decoration:-
Betty Crocker chocolate frosting
Mini (petit four) cake cases
Plate or board for serving
Green sugar crystals
Mini orange sugar balls
Mini marshmallows
Green, yellow and blue sugarpaste
Using a knife spread the chocolate frosting all around the sides of the cakes building it up slightly around the hole to make a volcano shape. Put a layer of frosting onto a plate or board and then position the 'volcano' in the middle.
Shape a mini cake case over your finger and then push it into the hole in the centre of the cakes to make a little cup in the middle, this is where the eruption ingredients will go later so make sure it is a close fit to the sides of the cake and the edges sit right up at the top edge of the frosting.
Sprinkle green sugar around the base of the volcano and over the frosting covered plate. This is supposed to be the grass and trees that grow at the bottom of a volcano.
Add some lumps of hot rocks that have come from the volcano by sprinkling some orange sugar balls near the top rim.
Make some little sheep by sticking a few micro marshmallows on the plate and use sugar paste to form a little farmhouse.
Finally add some green sugar paste triangles as trees and your little volcano mountain is done!
Obviously you can make the decorations a lot neater and more intricate than I did but I was making this with a five year old so it had to be easy and fairly chunky so his little fingers could manage it! Sorry there are not more pictures for this stage but I had my hands full stopping my son from eating the frosting straight from the tub! :)
For the decoration:-
Betty Crocker chocolate frosting
Mini (petit four) cake cases
Plate or board for serving
Green sugar crystals
Mini orange sugar balls
Mini marshmallows
Green, yellow and blue sugarpaste
Using a knife spread the chocolate frosting all around the sides of the cakes building it up slightly around the hole to make a volcano shape. Put a layer of frosting onto a plate or board and then position the 'volcano' in the middle.
Shape a mini cake case over your finger and then push it into the hole in the centre of the cakes to make a little cup in the middle, this is where the eruption ingredients will go later so make sure it is a close fit to the sides of the cake and the edges sit right up at the top edge of the frosting.
Sprinkle green sugar around the base of the volcano and over the frosting covered plate. This is supposed to be the grass and trees that grow at the bottom of a volcano.
Add some lumps of hot rocks that have come from the volcano by sprinkling some orange sugar balls near the top rim.
Make some little sheep by sticking a few micro marshmallows on the plate and use sugar paste to form a little farmhouse.
Finally add some green sugar paste triangles as trees and your little volcano mountain is done!
Obviously you can make the decorations a lot neater and more intricate than I did but I was making this with a five year old so it had to be easy and fairly chunky so his little fingers could manage it! Sorry there are not more pictures for this stage but I had my hands full stopping my son from eating the frosting straight from the tub! :)
Step 2: The Eruption!!
You will need:
For the eruption:-
Jelly crystals
Lemon juice
Bicarbonate of soda
Mini sparkler
Syringe
Make up the jelly according to the instructions and leave to cool for about 10 minutes, however, if you are making this with small children, then by the time you actually make the jelly you can probably use it straight away.
Using a syringe (we get loads from the hospital for my son's medicines but a pipette or a spoon and a steady hand would work just as well) fill the little 'cup' in the centre of the cake about half full of jelly.
Again using a syringe fill the cup to the top with lemon juice.
Now for the fun bit!
Stick a mini sparkler in the back of the cake, get some bicarbonate of soda ready and then light the sparkler and quickly add about half a teaspoon of bicarb to the mix in the cup and give it quick stir, if you can, to make it bubble a bit more vigorously!
Stand back and enjoy your own mini eruption!
The cake still tastes lovely after the eruption as well, the frosting tends to stop it from getting into the cake but the eruption mix just tastes a bit like sherbet so you don't really notice it.
For the eruption:-
Jelly crystals
Lemon juice
Bicarbonate of soda
Mini sparkler
Syringe
Make up the jelly according to the instructions and leave to cool for about 10 minutes, however, if you are making this with small children, then by the time you actually make the jelly you can probably use it straight away.
Using a syringe (we get loads from the hospital for my son's medicines but a pipette or a spoon and a steady hand would work just as well) fill the little 'cup' in the centre of the cake about half full of jelly.
Again using a syringe fill the cup to the top with lemon juice.
Now for the fun bit!
Stick a mini sparkler in the back of the cake, get some bicarbonate of soda ready and then light the sparkler and quickly add about half a teaspoon of bicarb to the mix in the cup and give it quick stir, if you can, to make it bubble a bit more vigorously!
Stand back and enjoy your own mini eruption!
The cake still tastes lovely after the eruption as well, the frosting tends to stop it from getting into the cake but the eruption mix just tastes a bit like sherbet so you don't really notice it.