Minecraft cake pops are small cubes of chocolate cake with a ganache center, dipped in colored candy melts and finished with fondant so they look like Creeper faces, TNT blocks and grass blocks from the game. One batch makes 18 cake pops and takes about 2 hours 15 minutes, most of it baking, cooling and chilling.
Shape them as cubes, not balls. That square silhouette is what makes a 7 year old shout “Creeper!” from across the room.
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Every recipe on this site can be converted to gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, keto, nut-free or egg-free with adjusted ratios so nothing falls flat.
Try the Recipe Converter →Minecraft Cake Pop Ideas Kids Recognize
Pick bold, flat colors. Kids know them on sight.
- Creeper: green candy shell, green fondant over the top, and small black fondant rectangles for the eyes and the long mouth.
- TNT block: red shell and red fondant, a white fondant strip across the middle, and black letters spelling TNT.
- Grass block: brown shell, brown fondant on the lower part and green fondant on top, slightly overhanging the sides, with knife lines for a pixel look.
- Gold block: yellow fondant on all visible sides with a few tiny white squares as shine pixels.
- Stone block: knead a little black fondant into white for gray and press on darker gray squares.
I have made these for two Minecraft birthday parties. One table was all Creepers; the other mixed TNT and grass blocks. A mix of three designs looks best on a stand, and it lets you use up every color of fondant you opened.
Scratch Chocolate Cake With a Ganache Center
These are not the usual cake-and-frosting pops. The cake is a simple cocoa buttermilk cake: 1½ cups flour, 1 cup sugar, ½ cup cocoa, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 cup buttermilk, ½ cup oil, 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. No buttermilk? Use 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon vinegar stirred in.
Bake it in a parchment lined 9×9 inch pan at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let it cool completely, then crumble it into fine crumbs with your hands or a fork. Warm cake turns gummy when you squeeze it.
For the ganache, heat ½ cup heavy cream until it just simmers and pour it over 8 ounces of chopped semi-sweet chocolate with a pinch of salt. Wait 1 to 2 minutes, then stir until smooth and glossy. Now let it cool. You want it thick like peanut butter, because runny ganache leaks out at the seams while you shape and the finished cubes slowly slump on their sticks.
This is a firm, two-to-one ganache, the same kind I use in my chocolate ganache recipe for truffles and fillings.
Packing Crumbs Into Sharp Cubes
Divide the crumbs into 18 portions. Flatten one in your palm, put about a teaspoon of ganache in the middle, and fold the cake around it. Press it into a cube about 1½ inches across. Then tap each side against the counter, or square it off with a bench scraper, until the corners look sharp.
Crumbs falling apart? The cake was a little dry, so mix a spoonful of the ganache into the crumbs and they will pack firmly. Chill the shaped cubes for 30 minutes.
Dipping Cubes Without Cracks
Cracked shells nearly always come from temperature. A cube straight from the fridge is cold; as it warms inside a set candy shell it expands, and the shell splits at the corners. So wait. Give the chilled cubes 5 to 10 minutes on the counter before you dip.
- Melt gently: microwave the candy melts in 30 second bursts and stir between each one. You want fluid and warm, not hot.
- Thin it: if the coating is thick, stir in up to 1 tablespoon of coconut oil or shortening. Thick coating pulls the cube off the stick.
- Anchor the stick: dip the tip of each lollipop stick in melted candy before you push it into the cube, then let it set for a minute.
- Dip, turn, tap: dip in a tall narrow cup, turn to cover the corners, and tap the stick gently on the rim. Do not shake hard.
- No water: keep water and liquid food coloring away from candy melts. Even a drop makes them seize into a stiff paste.
Match the shell to the design: green for Creepers, red for TNT, brown for grass blocks, so any gap in the fondant still shows the right color. Stand the pops upright in a styrofoam block or cake pop stand until the coating is completely set.
Fondant Details for Each Block
Dust the counter with cornstarch or powdered sugar and roll the fondant thin. Wear gloves. Fingerprints show on dark fondant. Cut a square for the top or front of each cube, attach it with a dab of edible glue or water, and add the small pieces with a toothpick or a damp brush.
For grass blocks, put the brown on first and the green on top, letting the green hang over the edges a little. Press a knife or modeling tool into the fondant for the blocky pixel lines. Molds or simple paper templates help if you want all 18 pops to match exactly.
A Day Ahead Party Plan
You can bake the cake a day before you shape, wrapped at room temperature, or dip and decorate the whole batch the day before the party. Store the finished cake pops in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge if you need them to last longer. Keep them out of direct sun at an outdoor party, since both candy melts and fondant soften in the heat.
Building a Minecraft Dessert Table
Cake pops are the grab-and-go part of the table. For the centerpiece, bake an easy Minecraft cake. My Minecraft cookies use the same Creeper, TNT and grass block designs on flat sugar cookie squares, which makes them good for party bags, and Minecraft cupcakes without fondant are the quickest option if you run short on time.
For a guest who does not care about the game, add a tray of confetti birthday cupcakes. And if you enjoy making cake pops, the same dip and set method works for Halloween cake pops and snowman cake pops.
Questions From Party Planners
Can I use a box cake mix for Minecraft cake pops?
Yes. Bake a chocolate cake from a mix, cool it, and use about the same amount of crumbs as a 9×9 inch cake for 18 pops. The ganache center and the shaping stay the same.
Can I make Minecraft cake pops without fondant?
Yes. Pipe the faces and pixels with melted black, white and red candy melts from a small piping bag, or draw them with edible markers once the shell is set.
Why do my cake pops fall off the stick?
Heavy coating or a loose stick. Thin the candy melts with coconut oil and dip the stick tip in candy before inserting it.
Do cake pops need to be refrigerated?
Not for the first 3 days. Keep them airtight at room temperature, and move them to the fridge if you need them to keep longer.
If you make these for a party, tell me in the comments which block went first. Pin the recipe to your Minecraft party board so the fondant layouts are there when you start decorating.
Minecraft Cake Pops
These Minecraft cake pops are cube-shaped cake pops made with moist chocolate buttermilk cake, a semi-sweet chocolate ganache center, and a crisp candy melt shell in green, red, and brown. The recipe makes 18 cake pops in about 2 hours 15 minutes, including baking, cooling, and chilling. Each cube is decorated with fondant to look like a Minecraft Creeper, a TNT block, or a grass block, and the square shape is what makes them read as blocks from the game. They are made for a Minecraft birthday party, a dessert table, party favors, or a creative baking afternoon with kids. Make them a day ahead and keep them airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Ingredients
- FOR THE CAKE LAYER
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk (or milk plus 1 tbsp vinegar)
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- FOR THE GANACHE FILLING
- 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
- FOR THE CHOCOLATE SHELL
- 12 oz candy melts (green, red, and brown varieties for color-coding)
- 1 tbsp coconut oil or shortening (optional, for smoother dipping)
- FOR THE FONDANT DECORATIONS
- Pre-colored fondant in green, black, red, white, brown, and yellow
- Cornstarch or powdered sugar (for dusting)
- Edible glue or water
- Small rolling pin
- Sharp knife or fondant cutters
- Toothpicks or small paintbrushes (for attaching details)
Instructions
- BAKE THE CHOCOLATE CAKE: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a 9x9-inch baking pan with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until the batter is smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25–30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely, then crumble it into fine pieces using your hands or a fork.
- MAKE THE GANACHE: Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and let it sit for 1–2 minutes. Stir until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy. Allow the ganache to cool slightly until it reaches a thick but spreadable consistency.
- ASSEMBLE THE POPS: Take a small portion of the crumbled cake and flatten it in your palm. Place a small amount of ganache in the center, then wrap the cake around the ganache to form a cube shape. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Chill the shaped cubes in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up.
- COAT THE POPS: Insert a lollipop stick into each chilled cube. Melt the candy melts in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until fully melted. If needed, add coconut oil or shortening to thin the coating. Dip each cake cube into the melted coating, turning to coat evenly and tapping off any excess. Place the coated pops upright in a styrofoam block or cake pop stand and let them set completely.
- DECORATE WITH FONDANT: To make a Creeper face, roll out green fondant and cover the top of the pop. Cut small rectangles from black fondant for the eyes and mouth and attach with edible glue or a damp brush. For a TNT block, cover the pop in red fondant and add a white fondant strip across the middle. Write or stick black fondant letters spelling “TNT” on the strip. For a grass block, cover the bottom in brown fondant and the top in green fondant, letting it slightly overhang the sides. Use a knife or modeling tool to create pixel-like texture lines. Use molds or templates for clean, consistent details if desired.
Notes
Cool the ganache until it is thick like peanut butter before filling the cubes, or it will leak out. If the crumbs do not hold together, mix a spoonful of the ganache into them. Let chilled cubes sit for 5 to 10 minutes before dipping so the candy shell does not crack, and dip the tip of each stick in melted candy before inserting it. Keep water away from candy melts. Use gloves while shaping and decorating to avoid fingerprints on fondant. Store finished cake pops in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or refrigerate for longer shelf life.
Nutrition Information
Yield
18Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 400Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 32mgSodium 198mgCarbohydrates 63gFiber 2gSugar 43gProtein 4g
I have deleted the orginal pin I had saved to Pinterest because you have been forcing this pin to my boards 3 times a day everyday. I have since blocked you and reported you as potential Spam, but still everyday I have 3 forced pins from you. Please take care of this problem. I am now in the process of reporting you to Pinterest yet again but in more detail
Hi Rhonda, I understand how frustrating those repeat pins feel. What you’re seeing usually comes from Pinterest’s own “Picked for you” suggestions. The platform will sometimes resurface a pin you once opened or saved, even if you’ve removed or blocked the original account. Unfortunately creators don’t have a way to turn that feature on or off for individual users.
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My recipes should only appear when you decide to save or search for them. I hope these tips give you back control of your feed 😊. Feel free to let me know if the issue sticks around, and I’ll pass any extra details to Pinterest support.