{"id":8277,"date":"2009-11-10T10:49:16","date_gmt":"2009-11-10T17:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/blog\/?p=8277"},"modified":"2009-11-10T10:49:16","modified_gmt":"2009-11-10T17:49:16","slug":"allee-willis-kitsch-o-the-day-happy-birthday-to-me-special-effects-volcano-birthday-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/allee-willis-kitsch-o-the-day-happy-birthday-to-me-special-effects-volcano-birthday-cake\/","title":{"rendered":"Allee Willis&#8217; Kitsch O&#8217; The Day &#8211; Happy Birthday To Me Special Effects Ultimate Volcano Cake!"},"content":{"rendered":"<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8279\" title=\"volcano-cake1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake1.jpg\" alt=\"volcano-cake1\" width=\"550\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake1.jpg 550w, https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake1-300x198.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/>\n<p>Yes, my birthday&#8217;s today and that means it&#8217;s time for me to make another one of my signature spewing fire and lava volcano birthday cakes! Ranging from a foot to 4&#8242; wide and anywhere up to 25 pounds and 2 1\/2&#8242; tall, these overdosing towers of sweetness have accompanied me rounding the bend to another year ever since I first saw a commercial for The Special Effects Cookbook in 1992.<\/p>\n<p>The real recipe calls for a nicely constructed &#8220;lifelike&#8221; looking volcano, but I&#8217;m an artist and into Kitsch so it should be no surprise that my cakes are hulking, unrecognizable lifeforms wayyyyy out of the realm of what the cookbook author had in mind.<\/p>\n<p>Made of up to 10 layers of anything I want &#8211; vanilla, chocolate and cherry cake, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, Rice Krispy treats and any other foodstuffs appropriate for celebration &#8211; my creations are massive lumps of sugary heaven surrounded by Jell-O or whipped cream and accented with Snickers, mini marshmallows, sprinkles, multicolored frosting and flaming sugar cubes-soaked-in-almond-extract torches, all of which form a cave around spewing lava made from eggs, water and dry ice.<\/p>\n<p>This may seem gross but let me tell you that in the 17 years of cooking\/sculpting\/drilling these things, even the most Vegan amongst us dives into this junk food fantasy like they&#8217;re in the hot dog eating contest at Coney Island. No utensils necessary, everyone goes fist first as the cakes are big enough that guests can easily locate a germ-free area in which to do their excavation.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s my Birthday &#8217;94 Volcano before it blew:<\/p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8283\" title=\"Volcano-cake2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Volcano-cake2.jpg\" alt=\"Volcano-cake2\" width=\"500\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Volcano-cake2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Volcano-cake2-300x256.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>\n<p>And here&#8217;s the first Volcano cake I ever made in 1993:<\/p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8287\" title=\"volcano-cake5\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake5.jpg\" alt=\"volcano-cake5\" width=\"499\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake5.jpg 499w, https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake5-300x270.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 499px) 100vw, 499px\" \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8291\" title=\"volcano-cake6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake6.jpg\" alt=\"volcano-cake6\" width=\"500\" height=\"327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake6.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake6-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>\n<p>See it erupting!:<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/bday\/volcanocake.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8307\" title=\"volcano-cake-movieYou\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake-movieYou.jpg\" alt=\"volcano-cake-movieYou\" width=\"500\" height=\"435\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake-movieYou.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake-movieYou-300x261.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a>\n<p>Here&#8217;s me making a second 1993 lava spewing dragon cake in case my first volcano was too small to feed all my guests. A drill is one of my most necessary kitchen utensils.<\/p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8293\" title=\"volcano-cake7\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake7.jpg\" alt=\"volcano-cake7\" width=\"600\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake7.jpg 600w, https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake7-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>\n<p>Here&#8217;s my Volcano Birthday cake, 1997. Rather than stack four cakes on top of each other and risk an avalanche, or whatever it would be called if a volcano tipped over, I erected a mountain range.<\/p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8297\" title=\"volcano-cake4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake4.jpg\" alt=\"volcano-cake4\" width=\"500\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake4.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake4-300x195.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>\n<p>Top view:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8299\" title=\"volcano-cake3\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake3.jpg\" alt=\"volcano-cake3\" width=\"500\" height=\"324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake3.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/volcano-cake3-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><br \/>\nNo Volcano cake this year but a most happy birthday to me!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, my birthday&#8217;s today and that means it&#8217;s time for me to make another one of my signature spewing fire and lava volcano birthday cakes! Ranging from a foot to 4&#8242; wide and anywhere up to 25 pounds and 2 1\/2&#8242; tall, these overdosing towers of sweetness have accompanied me rounding the bend to another &hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/allee-willis-kitsch-o-the-day-happy-birthday-to-me-special-effects-volcano-birthday-cake\/\">read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,239,131,165,87,193,29,37],"tags":[61,3232,3245,33,763,765],"class_list":["post-8277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-crafts","category-creativity","category-food","category-kitsch","category-kitsch-o-the-day","category-party","category-self-expression","tag-allee-willis","tag-kitsch","tag-kitsch-o-the-day","tag-parties","tag-special-effects-cake","tag-volcano-cake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}