Cake Bomb

Cake Bomb is a blocker in Candy Crush Saga, first introduced in Level 366 of the 26th episode, Pudding Pagoda. This blocker is very unusual in many different ways. It is the only blocker to take up 4 squares, or a 2x2 area. The blocker has a strange design - a round pink cake with a star in the middle and 5 sugar balls on the outside. The number of hits needed to destroy this blocker can vary significantly, from just the one hit to a maximum of 8 (the most of any blocker).

By simply breaking candies adjacent to the cake, it will break one segment off. The segment broken will be in the quadrant closest to the candies that were broken. Each quadrant contains two slices of cake. If a special candy hits the cake it will take up to four slices off the cake, therefore reducing their efficiency greatly.

If all eight slices of cake have been removed, a pink party popper will appear on the bottom right hand side of the screen after all cascades have been completed in the move that the cake was destroyed, and sends an explosion through the entire board, blowing all candies and blockers away, or if it's a blocker with several layers, takes a layer off, whilst removing the blocker itself from the board as well. The disadvantage is that any special candies on the screen are also blown away, rather than setting them off. This becomes a very serious threat in level 421.

No points are awarded for removing the 8 slices of the cake bomb. The amount of points earned for clearing a cake bomb is based on the number of candies on the board. 100 points are awarded for every regular candy or special candy cleared by the party popper. The amount of points increase if candy bombs are cleared as well. Each layer of jelly cleared by a cake bomb is worth 1,000 points. However, no points are awarded for clearing any blockers such as chocolate or icings.

Exploding a cake bomb on the last move of a level will result in the party popper clearing the board of candies.

Strategy
The positions of the cake bombs can affect the difficulty of a level directly. If they are positioned in the middle, it is quite easy to break them by just using normal matches. If they are situated on the edges or corners, it can be quite hard because special candy would be required for the corner slices to be cut off, even resorting to special candy combinations.

The most common way to remove the blocker, aside from normal matches, is using multiple striped candies, including the colour bomb + striped candy combination. Wrapped + striped candy works wondrously as it can remove up to 4 pieces of the cake. If lucky, a Wrapped + Wrapped combo removes all 8 pieces of the cake in one turn by blowing up two times near the blocker. A single colour bomb alone do not contribute much for setting a cake off. In jelly levels, cake bombs usually have jellies underneath them, so it is essential to try to find ways to set them off as soon as possible. If 2 or more cake bombs are cleared in one move, 1 cake bomb will activate. When the board has been settled, the next cake bomb will activate etc.

In ingredients levels, sometimes the cake bombs block the path for ingredients to drop down, forcing the player to get rid of them in order to complete the level. It is also possible for a level to contain so many icing squares that a player has to break the cakes to have an easier time bringing the ingredients down.

Cake bombs can appear in candy order levels, too. In normal order levels (the ones requiring certain colours of candy), they are helpful for weakening a lot of blockers on board and boost the progress. If a cake bomb is destroyed, the candies presents on the board count as order, which is helpful in some levels like level 377.

However, they can become a hazard in special candy order levels. It is important to know that all non-marmalade special candies do not count towards the progress for collecting orders. A notorious level is level 421, which requires the player to mix striped candies together 7 times (although now reduced to 5 times, it is still difficult). Because all special candies are lost after a cake is blown up, the level requires all 4 cakes to be removed before concentrating on mixing combinations. It can be a nearly impossible task to pull off, not to mention the order itself is extremely difficult already.

Trivia

 * Clearing a cake bomb is definitely more effective than the Colour bomb + Colour bomb combination as the combo doesn't touch most blockers. It destroys blockers, although it only takes one layer from multi-layered icing.
 * This blocker can take anywhere between one and eight hits to destroy. Therefore, it can take more hits than a five-layer icing.
 * This is the first (and currently the only) blocker to take up four squares, and thus the largest blocker.
 * The only thing the explosion doesn't destroy is other cake bombs.
 * Special candies can only ever take up to four slices off the cake in a single hit. Even a Striped + Wrapped combo only takes one off each quadrant (maximum 4 slices) if it is far away.
 * However, a colour bomb + colour bomb combo will not remove any slices off the cake.
 * Also, anything dealing multiple hits can remove more slices. An example is Wrapped + Wrapped combo near the cake bomb, which may remove all slices in a single move due to twice the explosion. It is very rare to happen, but can be incredibly helpful in levels such as 377 and 437.
 * The cakes appear in trays similar to the icing sachets. The trays have hearts inscribed in them, one on each quadrant.
 * Jellies can hide behind the cake bomb.
 * Prior to the release of Twilight Tulips, jellies behind cake bombs were not destroyed by the explosion. They can only be destroyed if they are within the range of a special candy when it goes off.
 * Even in latest mobile version (1.52.2), jellies behind cake bombs will not be affected by any cake bomb.
 * Jellies behind cake bombs can be destroyed without destroying the cake bomb itself by using jelly fish.
 * Jellies that don't have a candy on them are not destroyed by the explosion. However, they can be destroyed if candies occupy them. Now all jellies are destroyed instead.
 * In the entire game, there is a total of 218 cake bombs (138 cake bombs in Reality and 80 cake bombs in Dreamworld) so far.
 * Reality: 32 in Pudding Pagoda, 6 in Licorice Tower, 6 in Polkapalooza, 6 in Soda Swamp, 7 in Rainbow Runway, 4 in Butterscotch Boulders, 2 in Sugary Shire, 3 in Cherry Chateau, 4 in Meringue Moor, 5 in Ice Cream Caves, 2 in Sour Salon, 1 in Jelly Wagon, 1 in Gummy Gardens, 4 in Glazed Grove, 2 in Fizzy Falls, 2 in Crunchy Courtyard, 3 in Choco Rio Grande, 2 in Boneyard Bonanza, 1 in Marshmallow Mountains, 6 in Marmalade Meadow, 8 in Chewy Citadel, 1 in Fudge Fjord, 5 in Caramel Clearing, 2 in Candy Calaboose, 3 in Nougat Noir, 5 in Truffle Terrace, 4 in Coco Crossroads, 2 in Crumbly Coast, 3 in Delectable Depths, 5 in Minty Meadow (Episode 64), and 1 in Cookie Crossing.
 * Dreamworld: 32 in Candy Kaiju, 6 in Fanciful Fort, 6 in Rambunctious Riffs, 6 in Bubbly Bog, 5 in Jiggly Gym, 4 in Starlight Station, 2 in Snoozy Slopes, 3 in Extraordinary Estate, 3 in Sprinkle Springs, 5 Gelato Grotto, 2 in Sweet Beat, 1 in Charming Carnival, 1 in Playful Pavilion, 4 in Nocturnal Nuisance, and 2 in Dozy Dawn.
 * If two or more cake bombs are destroyed at the same time on Facebook, the first party popper will clear the board, and a second or subsequent poppers will clear the board after all cascades from the first cake bomb have ended. This can be a problem in some Dreamworld levels, since it is possible for Odus to survive the first popper, but he may not survive the second or subsequent poppers. On mobile devices, only one popper used to appear even if two or more cake bombs are destroyed at the same time, making it slightly easier on some Dreamworld levels on balancing the moon scale, but sometimes it could make a level harder. It works the same way as Facebook now.
 * This blocker is usually helpful as it cleans the entire board, but it can also make a level much harder. Levels 421 and 437 are hard because of the cake bombs.
 * If a cake bomb is destroyed during Sugar Crush, then the popper will work, but any special candies created by cascades from the board being cleared by the Cake Bomb will not be set off.
 * Jelly Fish and Coconut Wheels will actually set off and do their jobs if they are not in marmalade when a cake bomb goes off. When it is in marmalade, the marmalade will just be removed, even on mobile. Similarly, Lucky Candies and Mystery Candy are unveiled rather than removed by the bomb.
 * Destroying a cake bomb on the same move a candy bomb reaches 0 will fail the level rather than eliminating the board. It seems that latest mobile version does not work like this.
 * In old iOS and Android versions, the sound of the party popper would not play; it would just blow all candies and blockers on the board.
 * When a candy besides a quadrant of a cake bomb is hit by a colour bomb, no slices are destroyed.
 * No cake bombs appeared in Sticky Savannah, Biscuit Bungalow, Wafer Windmill, Cereal Sea, Taffy Tropics, Toffee Tower, Eggnog Emporium, Gummy Galaxy, and Polka Park.
 * Cake Bombs in Dreamworld do affect the moon scale by collecting both of the candies on the Moon Scale, although it isn't really a threat, unless one of the colours on the scale is destroyed too much.
 * On mobile (as of 1.52.2), if two Cake Bombs will be set off when Moon Struck is going to end in this turn, Odus will return to the Moon Scale before the second Cake Bomb goes off. In rare case this will blow Odus off the Moon Scale, if the board is extremely biased.

Notable levels

 * Level 366 - First appearance
 * Level 373 - The level with the most cake bombs, which is 6
 * Level 375 - 10th level
 * Level 381 - The 16th consecutive level of cake bomb and is the last of the 16 consecutive levels
 * Level 401 - 20th level
 * Level 421 - An extremely threatening level where cake bombs are a serious hazard.
 * Level 437 - Another level that is difficult mainly because of cake bombs.
 * Level 477 - 30th level
 * Level 639 - 40th level
 * Level 750 - 50th level
 * Level 810 - 60th level
 * Level 924 - 70th level