X-Box Minecraft Cake

Apparently the guests at Noah's gaming party couldn't find the cake! Lol

Although the X-Box One is essentially just a 'black box' this cake certainly had it's challenges. It's amazing how every tiny blemish in the fondant stands out when the surface is flat, black and shiny!

I used edible prints for the very first time on this cake, for the covers of the games cases. They were really easy to use, and very effective.

Progress shots:

Both the controller and the games case are formed from home made Rice Krispy treats.

The X-Box is the cake, vanilla sponge filled with vanilla buttercream, the coated in 2 layers of ganache - the crumb coat...

...and the smooth top coat.

The controller and games case were also covered in ganache to smooth them out and refine the shape, then covered in white fondant. Details were added with fondant. The games case is double sided, two games put together with a cover on each side.

The X-Box is also covered and detailed with white fondant. I used a textured rolling pin to get the diagonal grooved texture of the panels on the top and sides of the box.

Because the X-Box has so few details, I made sure to add as much detail as I could, there's actually more detail on the back of the X-Box One than anywhere else!

After masking the games case (where the covers will go), I airbrushed green colour on.

The X-Box and controller each got a couple of coats of black. Then all the pieces were sprayed with Shell & Shine.

The final details - logo, silver trim and button labels, were added with a paint brush using edible food colour gels and a Click 'n Twist pen.

Minecraft Party

Tasha has been wanting a Minecraft themed party for a long time, she finally convinced me to do it for her this year. It was actually a lot of fun to pull off! You will notice touches of pink throughout, Tasha loves pink and I think it makes a good contrast to all the green.

 

We created a Creeper face on the wall using square party plates. It made a great backdrop for photos.

Some friends helped me to make life sized Minecraft characters out of cardboard boxes.

The cake is a slightly simplified Grass Block, the figure on top is Tasha herself, using her Minecraft Skin, she is standing next to a Minecraft Cake. Each square on the cake is a separate little piece of fondant.

I was a bit disappointed with the finish of my cake cube, it was so perfect after crumb coating, I'm not quite sure where I went wrong, but the finished cake is very warped, the sides seem to have sagged downwards.

We vary carefully selected every bit of party food so that it matched with an Item from Minecraft.

Each food got a corresponding sign to identify it's Minecraft item name.

In order to earn their piece of birthday cake, each child had to collect specific items to arrange on the Crafting Table and craft their cake (the crafting recipe we used is close, but not exactly the same as the one for cake on Minecraft, due to availability of supplies).

They had to collect wheat, milk, eggs, and sugar. Eggs were collected by searching for them around the building where they had been hidden (an egg hunt). They could also find hidden emeralds along the way. The emeralds could be used to trade with Villagers (adult/teenaged helpers at the party) for sugar lumps.

They earned wheat by knocking over wheat skittles (i.e. cutting the wheat).

And milk was earned by feeding the cow (throwing a tennis ball into its mouth from a distance.)

All items could also be bartered with the other children or the villagers, until each child had all the items they needed to craft their cake at the crafting table.

Another activity the children enjoyed was creating their own Skin, by decorating a T-Shirt with fabric markers.

The remainder of the party was spent eating and playing various party games. Minecraft parody songs played in the background for most of the party.