I have a cake coming up that will be for an 85 yr old man and two 50 yr old women... I'm at a loss for how to incorporate all three. The only thing they asked for decoration was some pink because one lady's nickname is Pinky. I know the other lady likes the Green Bay Packers... and don't know much about the man. Do you have any suggestions?

Three smaller cakes?

I'd agree with the post above. 3 cakes or do a variety of cupcakes. You could do 3 flavors...one for each. Maybe place them on a cupcake stand mixed in together, like on Cupcake Wars. I love making cupcakes rather than big cakes. But so many people think cupcakes are childish and for school parties or bake sales. I'd suggest if you do decide to do cupcakes, find some pictures on this website or others of really nice, "grown up" cupcakes that you can re-produce that exact cupcake. Print them and show them to people, not as your work, but just so folks can see that cupcakes aren't just for kids.

The person who is buying the cake wants one big cake... I would love to do three smaller cakes or cupcakes... it would be so much easier!

Couldn't you divide it up like a pie - into 3 "sections" and 1 for each. (Not literally divide, but visually) I saw a cake challenge on food network once for triplets who all liked different things, but wanted one cake for their 18th birthday. If it was multiple tiers, you could decorate each tier for a different person.