I have a request for a man's birthday cake. Spouse want's a cake to feed 30 with really no theme. She said any kind of cake would be fine...I really don't want to do a plain sheet cake and the only thing i can think of for a tiered cake that doesn't seem girlie that I know he likes is hunting which i really wanted to try and stay away from. Any ideas of what i could do. Cake will be eaten at church so all alcohol and body part ideas are out...lol.

oh also they want all buttercream which makes some things out also....

Does he have a favorite sports team? You could go with team colors. OR you said he likes hunting...you could just do a cake with the camo colors without actually making it camo. I always have a hard time with guys too!

I could do the camo...I am just being selfish since I just did one last weekend...I kinda wanted something different...especially since the same people will be at this party who were at the one last weekend...lol. I would do something with deer but he hates fondant and I'm thinking a butter-cream deer isn't going to look to nice. Maybe an edible image or something....Sorry I'm brainstorming as i type this

I had saved this cake into my favorites for the next time I needed a "manly" cake with no real theme....

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1760604

deep dark chocolate cake with choco chips.

mocha frosting and filling

the pour over a chocolate ganache so shiny smooth

then whip up some ganache and pipe rosettes for border at base

add lettering to oversized cakeboard

elegant and decadant

those are both great...still trying to stick with vanilla buttercream with as little fondant as possible but I might go with something similar to what cattycorner posted

I usually try to find out as much info as I can, what colors they dislike, what hobbies they are into, or sports, things like that. If all fails or if client says anything is ok (which I really don't like to hear that because it makes it harder on me) I make a square cake with fondant circles and a gift bow, to make it look like a gift. The colors I use are usually white, black, grey, blue, red, just find a nice color combination. Good Luck!!!

I did this kit kat cake for a man.

http://savingdougssanity.blogspot.com/2010/01/who-wouldnt-want-kit-kat-cake.html

I just did 2 cakes for my father-in-law. Father's Day and Birthday. I wanted simple designs. One had green tinted frosting with brown/tan fondant trims, and one was vanilla SMBC frosting with same...somehow I seem to lean to greens and browns.... But the colors could be blues, tan etc.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1786340

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1723134

HTH

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1760604.html
I have always liked this one. It seems fairly simple but elegant.

I love the Kit Kat cake idea. You could make it bigger or smaller and I've seen it filled with all kinds of stuff on the top so it could be somewhat versatile.

Catty and grandmom I really like that cake and think it is a perfect masculine cake. I saved it so I can use it when I am out of ideas for a man. They are so hard sometimes. Good Luck in whatever you decide and post pics plz.

I am an admirer of Pish's little cakes in Cake Central.

Here's a list of a few of her "man" cakes. I had saved this list because we all know how hard it is to find manly cakes that are not tied to sports/hunting, etc. even though the first two in this list are for hunting.


http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1298339

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1234068

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1458527

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1409851

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1281955

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1264303

Patty T...lol the fathers day cake is one I saved earlier today while browsing on here and was leaning towards doing a similar design...neat that you posted it here. Great cake and thanks for the inspiration

these are all wonderful and very helpful...thanks everyone. I will post pictures when finished. Glad to see i'm not the only one who has a hard time thinking of manly designs...i knew polka dots weren't gonna cut it this time

I did this one recently and it was a hit...

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1760604


Noticing later...Awww, you guys have already posted my cake as an idea!!! Oh, that is so flattering! THANK YOU! : )

Most men love the remote control to TV. ......

Thanks OP and everybody that replied. I just typed in "manly cakes" on the search and found this forum. Yippee! Lots of great ideas. My manly cake is needed for a neighbor to take to his workplace, birthday October 13. I'll do a combo of orange and black and utilize one or more of the ideas posted here.

Another idea would be a round or square package cake done in manly colors.

Rachie, I looked at your manly cake for John on your photos---it looked terrific. I'll bet John was really pleased!

Thanks Apti! Good luck...hope it goes smoothly for you