I've pitched on cakes a few times with mixed results. Right now my procedure is to wash my yeast. There are a quite a few threads on yeast washing. Essentially, you get a few sanitized mason jars and transfer the yeast/trub to one, let it settle and then decant the good stuff (non-trub) to the other. Let it settle again, decant the brew and you're left with a nice layer of yeast to make a starter with... or just be lazy like me and pour in some purified water, slosh it around and pitch it. If you're not going to wait for a starter you can do this whole thing in just a couple of hours and it will last for a while in the fridge. If you can wait a few hours you can wash the yeast and sanitize all your equipment while you wait...
And blowoff tubes are easy. I think I use 3/8" for mine. Just run the tube from the bucket grommet into a bottle with sanitized/starsan water. I actually use them more often than airlocks now since I fill my buckets almost to the brim (more beer). Only things that really get crazy are hefes/wits... at least in my experience.