You can use gingerbread man imagery when you bake holiday treats without actually making gingerbread. Instead of baking ginger and molasses-infused cookies, shape gingerbread man cakes in any cake flavor you desire. Whether you want to craft mini cakes or bake one large gingerbread man, cake will prove as formidable a medium as gingerbread cookies. After you cut the cakes into man-shape pieces, decorate the cake or mini cakes with traditional gingerbread man details to realize the classic image.
Instructions
1. Bake a standard 9-inch by 13-inch sheet cake. Bake an 8-inch or 9-inch round cake, as well, if you are assembling one large gingerbread man.
2. Cool the cake to room temperature.
3. Make a paper template for a large gingerbread man body, if needed. Draw a 9-inch by 13-inch rectangle. Sketch triangles around the interior edges to shape the gaps between the body, arms and legs. Follow an illustration as a guide. Cut the template out of the paper with scissors.
4. Cut gingerbread man shapes with a cookie cutter to make mini cakes. Shape the sheet cake to look like one gingerbread man body by trimming along the edges of the cake with a knife. Lay the paper template on top of the cake. Cut around the template with the knife to shape the body and limbs. Trim the round cake to a 5-inch diameter to make the head.
5. Arrange the body and head pieces on a platter or baking sheet. Place the round cake immediately beside the top of the cake body.
6. Decorate the cakes with frosting and other edible embellishments.
