A step-by-step process of how to make a 3d carved Mr. Potato Head Cake. Learn how to carve, stack, and transform your cake into the classic childhood toy, Mr. Potato Head.

How to Make a Mr. Potato Head Cake

When a friend’s in need…

When my friend came to me asking if I could make a cake for her dad’s 65th birthday cake, I of course couldn’t turn it down! I LOVE making cakes. I am crafty, baking machine, but I’m surely still in the learning phase of perfecting my skills. I have not had any schooling for baking….I just Youtubed the crap out videos and how to’s. Let me tell you google is a pretty powerful thing and of course, trial and error.

She started me with an idea of doing a Medicare card but I really wanted to do something more. So I went to google. I googled 65th birthdays and nothing just seemed right for him. Finally, I googled 1952 and there it was. Did you know that Mr. Potato Head was first made in 1952? Yup! For the last 65 years, kids everywhere have been making fun faces on him and the Mrs for years. He’s even captured our hearts in Toy Story 1, 2, and 3 ( And if you didn’t know, they are making a Toy Story 4). I have to say I was a bit nervous to make this cake but I took the challenge head on! If you are new to baking and want to get started decorating your own cakes, you can see some of my favorite tools I used to make this cake and almost all my cakes  here.

So let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

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A lot of tutorials I’ve seen for making cakes have used templates, which I think are a great idea and it probably saves you some time. Being that I’m still new to it, I wasn’t sure of the size cake pans I wanted to use or anything. Shockingly, not many people have made a 3D Mr. Potato Head. Most have only made him laying down. So I started with those Youtube videos and worked my way to cakes that would be similarly shaped to him. That’s when I found the ever so wonderful Yolanda, and she was making an easter bunny cake. The body of the bunny was similar to a potato head so I mimicked her bunny body for my potato head.

Start with TWO of each pans: So two 4″ pans, two 6″ pans , and two 8″ inch pans. Bake all the cakes and let them cool.

[Baking tip: Most cakes will rise with a dome shape to the top. Right as I take them out of the oven, I take another pan and press down on the top of the cake. This gets rid of the dome and makes your cake more dense. It also makes leveling the cakes easier. Most times I don’t have to level them off at all.]

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Stacking:

When they are cooled, I begin the stacking process. The stacking from bottom to top are as followed: 6” -> 8”-> 8”-> 6”-> 4” and add even coating of icing in between each layer. ( I saved the other 4” to cut in half for the front of his feet). Put the cake in the fridge or freezer to chill for about 20 minutes to make the carving a little easier.

Carving:

You want to use a big serrated edged knife. Here is where the template might come in handy for people who think they might get it wrong. I knew I wanted it big at the bottom and skinnier at the top, so I started with thin cuts off and worked my way to the shape that I wanted.

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Icing/Crumb Coat

Then: crumb coat. Crumb coats do NOT like me. It does not want to stay on the cake, it just likes to roll across the cake and take cake with it as it stays on my knife. So I more or less skipped the crumb coating and went straight to icing big gobs on it and scrapped a lot of it off. I feel like I wasted a ton of icing that way, so if anyone has ideas on how to get the icing to stay for a crumb coat. PLEASE pass your words of wisdom to me!

Try and smooth the icing out as best you can so your fondant will lay smooth as well. I then put it in the fridge to chill while I rolled out the fondant to cover the cake.

Covering the cake:

Next, I started working on the fondant, now some people like to get most of their fondant pieces together from the beginning which does save you time ( hence you should print a template) but since I wasn’t quite sure how big I was making it, I waited till I had it all together to measure the cake to start on the fondant pieces. I bought my fondant from Michael’s. ( UPDATE: I know use this fondant! It’s my favorite!)  I used the brown fondant and added the white fondant to it to tone down the darkness of the brown to give it more of a tan look. My potato measures 21” from the front over the top to the back. So I knew I had to roll out one of the biggest pieces of fondant I’ve rolled out in my life. This part I was probably the most nervous about, but it actually wasn’t as bad as I thought. Like they say just move quickly with it. Once you roll it out the size you need. Roll it on to your rolling pin gently and then pick it up and quickly roll it back towards you over your cake. Quickly start smoothing it out from the top to the bottom undoing the ripples in the fondant. I used shortening to keep my hands from drying it out and helping with keeping it from cracking.

I also cut the 4” in cake in half and skipped crumb coating, I only added blue fondant to the top to make front of the shoes.

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Decorating:

Now start making pieces for the potato head. I knew I wanted him to look more like Grandpa Potato head, but more cool.

Eyes: 2 white ovals – 2 black circles  – 2 tiny white circles for the pupil dot.

Nose:I made an orange nose using 1/3 red and 2/3 yellow fondant. I shaped it like a carrot, pushed it down from the sides on the counter to flatten the back. I used a ball fondant tool to give him nostrils on each side.

Mustache:  I made a gray mustache using a 1/4 black fondant and 3/4 white fondant.I made it a thick line and then pinched the ends down to one corner to make it more like a mustache. I used a fondant tool but you can use a tooth pick to make line into the mustache to look like hair. (You’ll want to use the tooth from the side not from the point, as you’ll tear the fondant rather than make an indent.)

Ears: I used the pink fondant with a bit of white to tone down the brightness. I shaped it into the outline of a “D” and then pushed my thumbprint in the middle for the indention.

Mouth is a bit trickier but feel free to do your own ideas here and his mouth is detachable ;P

I rolled red fondant into a “snake” and moved it around under the mustache until I found the way I liked it. I wanted it to look like he was shocked at the number, so that’s the look I went for with his mouth.Before I assembled it,  I added a thin black background from the mustache down to the bottom of the red lips to keep it all together and I added a thin line to make pretend teeth. ( I put the white line down before I put the red lips on.

Arms: I rolled white snakes and measured them to where I want them to start and end. Next, I rolled white fondant into a ball and smashed it down and cut 3  lines in for the fingers and a small line for the thumb. I molded them to how I desired. Lastly, I rolled out a thin line and cut two small pieces to cover where the hand met his arm, so it looks like a glove.

After I made them all to the right size. Its time to adhere them to the cake.  I use a little sugar-water and a brush for most small things. For the bigger parts like the ears, nose, and arms, I also used toothpicks for more durability.

I should have carved the top of my potato head more round but I kept it more the flat. So, I had to add a ball of fondant to the top. This helped form the mound for the baseball hat. The same small bowl I used to form the mound I used for the hat. After, I cut a small semi-circle to make the bill of the hat and cut it more like a crescent shape to fit the hat. I used Wilton’s alphabet and number cutouts to make the 65 for the top of the hat.

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Finishing touches:

I added the shoes to the front of the bottom layer. Then, I rolled 1 small snake and cut 4 small pieces to use as shoe laces. I used water and smushed the ends to make it look like they were tied into the shoe. Finally, I add a blue “snake” around the entire bottom to look like his shoes around the whole bottom.

I have to say I was pretty impressed with how it turned out. If you decide to make this cake, send me your pictures, I’d love to see how they turned out! I think he was pretty impressed too.  🙂 Check out my next tutorial here!

Until next time!

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