Super Easy (but still impressive) Minecraft Cake

Want to wow them at their next birthday party? How about making a super cool Minecraft cake that is sure to impress even the most serious of Gamers.

In my previous post I showed you how I threw an inexpensive Minecraft birthday party together using my local dollar store for supplies. The party was a hit, but the Cake was the star of the show.

I am NOT a professional cake decorator, and my cakes are NEVER perfect but I have a great time desiging, troubleshooting and executing the cakes I make. In comparison to some of the previous cakes I have made over the years (see baby D's Max & Ruby cake on my Fondant post), this cake was super easy to put together and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. As promised, here is a step by step run-through on how I put this cake together.

"Dirt Blocks"

I made a sheet cake in a 9x13in pan and froze it solid. I made this up a few days in advance, because I wanted the cake to be very stiff when I cut it into blocks, so that I could ensure all of my blocks were as uniform as possible. When it came time to put the cake together, I cut the cake into 12 equal squares. I removed 4 of the blocks and organized them on the rest of the cake, to create the different levels. I used a small wooden skewer to stabilize the cake and used chocolate butter cream to cover the sides of the cake (as shown). I used an icing tip #233 to create the "grass" effect on the top of the cake.

"Sand Blocks"

I made a batch of rice krispy squares as my sand blocks. I used the same 9x13 pan that I used for the cake, to ensure my blocks could be cut relatively the same size. I used 11 squares to create the look I wanted, but you can play around with your configuration and placements!

"Water Blocks"

I knew I wanted water on my Minecraft cake but I knew that regular old jello might seep out or not keep its shape, so I opted to add Knox gelatin powder to regular blue jello to make the jello sliceable. I found 2 tsp of Knox added to a regular box of jello produced a nice stiff (yet still edible) jello and I was able to easily slice it and place it on my cake.

note: dipping your container in hot water before you attempt to slice or remove the jello will make it a lot easier to remove and work with, but don't leave it for too long or your jello will melt and create a slimy mess!

Characters

I made my Minecraft characters out of my homemade marshmallow fondant recipe, a few days in advance and let them air dry. I'm happy with how they turned out, and was surprised at how easy they were to put together, even though they took my two hours to make. Because you're dealing with square blocks, the characters are relatively easy to piece together and to keep things simple, I used an edible black marker for their features.

note: I only had black markers on hand, but they come in a variety of colors and they can make a project like this so much faster.

I rolled out the fondant so it was abut an inch thick and used an exacto knife (that I only use for the fondant) to cut my squares. I wasn't super exact, just eyeballed it until I was happy. I secured the blocks together with a little water and toothpicks where required.

I placed my super small features on with the help of some tweezers and toothpicks. I allowed them to air dry, uncovered. Do not put them in the fridge or cover them or they will start to release moisture and your features will run, your characters may even fall apart!

The finished product!

As always, there are things I will do differently next time, but all in all I was happy how this DIY came together. Have you tackled a cool Minecraft cake idea? Are you a DIY cake enthusiast too?! Introduce yourself and comment below!