When you have a 9-year old who loves to bake and you’re planning a science project modeling the layers of the Earth, there’s really only one thing to do…

Make an Edible Layers of the Earth Model!

You’ll Need:

• A White Cake
• White Frosting (whatever flavor you choose)
• Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue Food Coloring
• Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
• White Chocolate Chips

The first step is to make or buy a plain, unfrosted white cake. I grabbed a boxed cake mix from the store and it was a piece of cake to bake (pun intended).

Next you are going to divide your frosting into 3 bowls and use the food coloring to create yellow, orange, and red.

Now crumble your cake. Yep, the whole thing. I broke mine into chunks and put it in the food processor, but it works just as well to get in there with your hands.

Once you’ve crumbled your cake, take a portion of it and mix it with a little yellow frosting. (Sorry, I’m the worst at measuring. Basically you want just enough frosting that the cake crumbs stick together.)

You’ll follow the same process with the other 2 colors of frosting. Now you can start making cake balls. Begin by making small yellow cake balls and then put them aside in the refrigerator or freezer to chill. I put mine in the freezer for about 8 to 10 minutes and they turned out great. You want to chill them so that’s it’s easier to add the next layer. Once your core is chilled, you’ll add a layer of orange cake/frosting mix until you’ve completely enveloped the small yellow cake ball. Repeat the process one more time with the red cake/frosting mix.

You have now assembled the inner core, outer core, and mantle of your edible model. The next step is to make the crust. To make the crust, you need to melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips and coat each cake ball in melted chocolate. Then it’s back in the freezer or fridge to let the chocolate set.

When I first reached this step in the process, I tried dipping or rolling the cake balls in the melted chocolate… this didn’t work out quite the way I thought it would. However, I discovered it was a little easier to spoon the chocolate over each ball and then spread it to cover the surface. Don’t worry if this part doesn’t look super pretty, you’re going to eat it anyway.

Once your chocolate crust has hardened, it’s time to add some oceans and continents. Divide your white chocolate chips into two bowls. Melt the chips in the first bowl and mix in some blue food coloring. Cover your model Earth by spooning the melted chocolate over the ball. Chill until this new blue layer hardens.

Finally, melt the remaining white chocolate chips and use your food coloring to make the chocolate green. Now you can place the melted chocolate in a small ziploc bag, snip off one of the bottom corners of the bag, and pipe the chocolate into continent-like shapes on the surface of your model. Again, don’t worry so much about accuracy or aesthetics here, just have fun. Once you’ve added some landforms, place your Earth back in the freezer or fridge for one last time.

When all of the chocolate has hardened again, you are ready to eat your model. Carefully cut the ball right down the middle and you’ll be able to see each of the layers of the Earth inside.

My kids and I had so much fun making and eating this delicious science project. It took a little time, but it was worth it. I hope you have fun making your own edible layers of the Earth model and for more homeschool ideas, click here.

Until next time… Let’s get Learning!