First steps after your order
Published on 3 October 2026
Congratulations on your new server! This article explains what happens after your order and how to start playing within minutes: from your first invoice to the moment your friends connect.
1. Pay your first invoice
After you order, an invoice is waiting in My CakeHosting, under Invoices. You pay through Stripe, for example with iDEAL, Bancontact, card or PayPal. As soon as your payment comes in, our system creates your server automatically. It’s usually ready within a few minutes.
2. Set your game panel password
You manage your server in the game panel. If this is your first server with us, you’ll get a separate email from the game panel asking you to set a password. Your game panel account uses the same email address as My CakeHosting. If you already have a game panel account with that email address, your new server simply appears there and you won’t get a new email.
No email? Check your spam folder. If it isn’t there either, go to the game panel’s login page and choose Forgot password? to request a new link.
3. Open your server
In My CakeHosting, go to Services and open your server. The Go to server button takes you straight to your server in the game panel. You can also log in to the game panel directly at https://game.cakehosting.net.
4. Start your server
You land on the Console page. Click Start. The first start takes a little longer, because the server sets up its files and generates a world. The console shows you what’s happening.
On a Minecraft Java server, the panel asks you to accept the Minecraft EULA on the first start. Read it and click I Accept; the server then carries on starting.
5. Share your server address
On the Console page, your server’s address is shown under Uptime: an IP address or hostname with a port, for example 123.45.67.89:25565. That’s what you give your friends.
- Minecraft Java: in Minecraft, choose Multiplayer, then Add Server, and enter the address.
- Minecraft Bedrock: choose Play, then the Servers tab and Add Server. Enter the address and the port separately.
- Other games: you usually connect through the server list or a direct connect option. You’ll find the details for each game on its page and in our blog.
6. Keep it for your friends
Only want friends on your server? Turn on the whitelist. Since Minecraft 26.3 it’s even switched on by default on new Java servers. If your friends can’t connect, add them with /whitelist add name in the console, or through Players in the game panel.
Want a friend to help manage the server, for example restart it or add plugins? Give them access under Users. You choose exactly which permissions they get.
7. Make your first backup straight away
World in place and everything working? Make a backup right away. See Create and restore a backup.
Need help?
Open a support ticket in My CakeHosting. Include your server’s name and paste the error from the console, and we can help you fastest. We help in English or Dutch.
