Minecraft Cake

So everyone knows that kids love everything Minecraft, my kid is no exception.

We ususally make a fuss over birthdays, so when his came around I knew it needed a Minecraft theme. I looked at probably a half dozen sites with Minecraft cake themes, everything from reddit to pinterest, from bake sites to mom sites and youtube.

By far, this was the best I found:




I followed the instructions, for the most part, but tried to work out what - IMHO - were some of her kinks and to adapt it for a truly lazy Mom such as myself.

The cake mix recipe:

1 package of devil's food cake mix
4 egg whites
1 small box of chocolate Jello pudding powder (the smaller 4 serving size)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup of water
1/3 cup *plus* one tablespoon of vegetable oil

Note: Double the above recipe to ensure enough cake for sculplting what appear to be 2x2 inch Minecraft squares. The batter will be very thick but it needs to be thick for cutting and to not be crumble-y when frosting it.

I used a 10x14 dark coated pan, followed the cooking instructions from the cake mix box for baking time and then I just watched it and tested it with a toothpck in the center, adjusting the baking time accordingly as it cooked. Basically, I winged it.

I let it cool fully on a rack for a few hours. In the mean time I made the Jello. I mucked this up totally and did not fully grasp what she was saying about one cup of water per Jello box. Either that or I got my math wrong. Dammit!. The result was my Jello crapped out, as you can see in the pic further down. So key point: Four boxes with one cup of water per box.





Next, I formed the cake using a bit of geometry. I cut off the drier, less square, ends like she did, but I saved those and made them into square Minecraft-esque decorated mini bites that my kid and his friends (and my husband) loved. I cut the cake into a square to start with, in order to make the geometry of the appearance of 2x2 Minecraft squares look better. Also, I didn't cut as many actual 2x2 cake squares as she did - I faked that too. I made a template of where I wanted the cake to be cut, frosted the entire top with chocolate frosting and then flipped it over. I frosted the top layer of the cake with green icing but I did it in 2x2 segments so I had less actual cutting to do and it looked a little neater.












For the "sand" I used Rice Krispie Treats. She's an awesome Mom and actually made authentic Rice Krispie Treats but I'm a lazy Mom with a toddler and a tween and I couldn't be arsed to do that so I just used pre-made Rice Krsipie Treats. One pack, cut in half and stacked, made one 2x2 block and I really didn't need too many so it felt like cheating. Not sorry. LOL!



And for the "water" it was down to the Jello...SIGH! It almost worked. It came out of the loaf pan and onto the cake display, lasted about one minute and then - Jello tsunami. Fortunately I had some left over to fake it. It kind of worked out because it sort of looked like a 2x2 block. At least that's what I told myself between tears as blue as the Jello itself. So...upshot: you want the Jello very thick so it will both cut and hold it's shape. Kids won't care, they eat anything. LOL!



For the "grass", being a lazy Mom, I simply used one of those Betty Crocker frosting-in-a-can things. Green colored, of course. I practiced a bit perfecting the grass shape with a Wilton specialty frosting tip I bought at Michael's craft store. My husband licked all the practice grass straight off of the paper plate, because he's also a 12 year old at heart.

I also used a dowel as suggested in the video because you have to or it will collapse. It's the Leaning Tower of Minecraft Cake. If I had to do it again, I would go with more of a tiered pyramid shape, that way it would be totally symetrical, like an actual cake. Duh.



After much cursing and snarking with my hubby who was "supervising" with his beer, we placed the figurines (which we got at Target after taking out a second mortgage on our house). Kidding but - dang - these Minecraft people and their limited licensing are raking in the big bucks off of addicted children and their desperate parents.

Anyways, my kid and his buddies loved it and it wasn't too hard. No sheep, chickens or pigs were injured in the making of this cake - though I did declare my husband to be a total Creeper after about the tenth time of beating him away from the frosting with a spatula.

That is awesome, my son who's turning 16 in September would still love that.
Great job!

You did a really great job! My twin nephews are going to be turning 10 in September and I am totally going to make them a Minecraft Themed cake after seeing this. Great job again.

a reply to: Kali74

a reply to: imnotanother

Thanks! We decorated with black and green balloons and streamers. We just painted the green balloons to look like Creeper faces. Not my idea, found it on pinterest. You know that evil, time-sucking place where Mom's try to out Mom each other.

a reply to: kosmicjack

That cake is brilliant. Well done!

a reply to: kosmicjack

OMG!

That is an AWESOME!!! cake!!!!

Being an adult minecraft junkie I LOVE it and I am going to do this for my daughters 11th birthday!
She also loves minecraft so something like this would blow her away!
You should of seen the smile on my face while reading this thread,
I am going to put this to use in December!

That turned out awesome! I'm not too familiar with minecraft but my little boy loves elmo! His birthday is coming up and was going to get some ideas for an elmo cake. I'm not known for baking cakes because the frosting usually is gone by the time I try to use it.

a reply to: kosmicjack

My husband licked all the practice grass straight off of the paper plate, because he's also a 12 year old at heart.

LOL, aren't we all?

The cake turned out fantastic. My youngest graduates next year. My nephew graduated last night (actually, 2 nephews) and we did a lot of work on the festivities. My youngest ran a Minecraft server for a few years, and this could be in the running for his cake for that night.

a reply to: kosmicjack

That is awesome! My kid would go wild over that cake! Might have to do one for the next birthday! Thanks for posting all the details!!

Wow! That's really cool!