If you have any cake decorating skills and you know a child who loves Handy Manny, the popular character from the Playhouse Disney show, you might be called upon for decorating a cake like Handy Manny. The surprise of a Handy Manny cake will thrill a birthday boy/girl and make the day that much more special. Like other character cake designs, you can customize a Handy Manny cake to your own skill level. Some bakers prefer the challenge of forming the character out of cake and then decorating, while others prefer to bake a basic sheet cake and decorate the character on that.
Easy Handy Manny Cake
If you don't have a lot of extra time to devote to a cake or you aren't yet confident in your cake decorating skills, baking and decorating Handy Manny's face with buttercream frosting on a basic sheet cake is a good choice.
- Bake a 9-inch-by-13-inch rectangular sheet cake.
- Let the cake cool completely, then remove it from the pan, set it on parchment paper, and let it sit in the freezer for about 45 minutes.
- Take the cake out of the freezer and set it on a serving platter. Brush the top and sides with a pastry brush so that they are free of crumbs.
- With a flat spatula, cover the cake's top and sides completely with white buttercream icing.
- Return the cake to the freezer for about 30 minutes.
- While the cake chills, use gel food coloring to dye three portions of the leftover buttercream peach, brown, and red.
- When the frosting is firm, take the cake out of the freezer and use a pastry bag and large round tip to spread a circle of peach frosting on the cake. Use the flat spatula to smooth out the frosting to a face shape. If you'd prefer, you can form the face with dots from a star tip.
- Use a star tip or a medium-sized round tip to pipe brown frosting on the peach face for Manny's hair, eyebrows, and mouth.
- Use a round tip and red frosting to pipe the shape of a hat on top of Manny's face. Fill in one side of the hat with the red frosting. Outline the middle portion in red and leave it white.
- Pipe on Manny's eyes with a round tip and white buttercream frosting. Spread the frosting smooth with a flat spatula. For pupils, apply store-bought black buttercream frosting, black fondant circles, or flat black candies. Pipe a small white dot onto the pupil of each eye.
Handy Manny & Friends Personalized Edible Image Cake Topper
Fondant Handy Manny Cake
Form Manny's tools out of fondant and place them on top of a cake.If you have advanced cake decorating skills or you enjoy working with fondant, you might want to try a more advanced cake. Here are some ideas for cakes involving fondant:
- Coat a regular cake with fondant to resemble a toolbox and place Handy Manny cake toppers on it.
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Use fondant or modeling chocolate to form Handy Manny and place him on the cake.
Fisher-Price Disney Let's Get to Work Manny
More Tips on Decorating a Cake Like Handy Manny
- If you're pressed for time and can't make a cake, consider purchasing Handy Manny cake toppers, baking a cake from a mix, and decorating with the toppers.
- Consider decorating a cake like Handy Manny using just Manny's tools or just Manny himself to save time and simplify the process.
- Rather than trying to form cake into the shape of Manny and then decorate it, think of creative ways to include Manny in a more traditional cake. You could place a Manny figurine on top of a round cake or make a border of fondant tools on a square cake.
- Bake a batch of cupcakes, pipe buttercream frosting on each, and top with a fondant tool.
- Buy a blank store or bakery made cake and decorate it yourself.
