I made another one of those cakes today that I don't even bother to take a picture of. The dreaded Man Sheet Cake.

Me on the phone to customer: And what would you like on Frank's vanilla with white frosting birthday cake?

Customer: Oh, you know, something manly. No flowers please. And not tooo decorative. No pinks or bright colors. How about blue?

Me: (sigh) Does he have any interests I could decorate the cake with?

Customer: Hmmm, no, I think we'll just go with Happy Birthday Frank.

Me: Great. Another cake that won't go into my portfolio.

Can anybody help me out of my Man Cake funk? I scoured the galleries but interesting sheet cakes for men are pretty scarce.

yes. don't sweat it.

man cake =

chocolate batter

9x13 disposable aluminum pan

chocolate icing

1 fork (after all, he isn't going to share!)

LOL! that is spot on

Oh bother. You guys are so much help LOL

I would go with stripes, plaid or a geometric-shapes design. And/or, in place of flowers, use leaves, dots, stars/spiky shapes or flame/wave shapes; in place of scallops or ruffles, use zig-zags, scales, stars, rope or ball borders. Honestly, I tend to find the simple non-themed sheet cake with flowers for a woman to be pretty uninteresting, so I'm not sure why so many people think a "masculine" version of the same thing is any MORE boring. In fact, usually I find the masculine versions to be more interesting precisely because they don't have the cliched BC roses.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1172211.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1735067.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1723134.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_262243.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_44427.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1188774.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1318530.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1558037.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_72068.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1199509.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1288392.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1175036.html

(Not all of these are sheet cakes but the design ideas could be translated easily enough. And fondant stripes, etc. could of course be done in BC instead.)

Thanks for all the "manly" links! I will keep these in mind for future cakes...as I too never seem to know what to make for the guys in my life!

Thanks for taking the time to list those--very helpful!

Not helpful in anyway, but I came across this a couple weeks ago.. good for a laugh at a man's cake!

Doug, you crack me up every time!!

hollyml, thanks for taking the time to post all those, I'm saving some for future reference. I, too dread the "Plain sheet-cake for a guy request"!

When I have to do a manly cake I think a present cake with in masculine tones. I mean who doesn't like getting a present right? And in this case the prescent is a yummy, wonderful cake.

I had that EXACT conversation with a customer and this is what they got!! By the way everyone loved it! I hated it!

My heart also sinks if I have to do a man cake Guys simply don't have preferences - And if they are requesting a cake for a child or spouse they say things like "I think my son likes chocolate - whatever - dark colours - no flower colours please" If I hear someone saying they need a cake for a daughter who is into princesses, flowers, purses, and pastels...I get sooooo excited and happy

yes - we are boring when it comes to cake.

who cares (within limits of not being a cake wreck)

it's the taste!!!!!

so wow us with the insides!!!

and if you can get alcohol involved big ++++++

lilerintron,
I must buy that guy's cake-decorating DVDs! I love that he thinks he can impress women with his cake making skills.

We love bacon too!! Lots of bacon and booze!!