So what do YOU do at two in the morning! LOL :)

Here are my night time activities...












My 'family' here in Lake consists of not only some real family members, but a friend and her family that have kind of adopted me into their little family group. It's really a precious family and actually is a lot like my "real" family. Lots of girls-- big groups of 'sisters', aunts, etc.. Robin, the friend, has a younger sister, Stephanie. Stephanie is better known as Duff. I am sure I've been told the story behind Steph's transition to "Duff", but in the sleep deprived state I am currently experiencing, I forget! Anyhow, Duff has two precious little children, Preston and Sadie. Better known as Pres and Bean... Again, see the similarities. I came to the conclusion years ago that NO one in my family needed to have a name listed on a birth certificate because they sure ain't gonna go by it.

Anyhow, back to the point... tomorrow (or actually later today!) is Preston's birthday party. I've made most of my local nieces' and nephews' cakes for years and of course, Pres and Bean are included in that list. :) I've made castles and princess crowns, monster trucks and John Deere farm scenes. Each cake NEVER turns out the exact way I see it in my head when I start. It is almost as if the cake takes on a life of its own and kind of pushes me into what IT wants. There's you some creative person psycho babble! Ha ha!!

For example, when Duff and I talked about this cake, we decided to do a big (i.e. LOTS of people to feed cake!) sheet cake with the little Monsters vs. Aliens characters on it along with a background prop that was included with the cake pack. The more I looked at the stuff, the less I wanted the sheet cake. My 'cake self' was screaming to throw that little piece of cardboard in the trash! LOL :) I decided there had to be some way to make that bridge. Now I haven't seen this movie, but apparently one of the monsters crashes through a bridge at some point. That was the scene on the cake prop. It finally dawned on me what the bridge looked like... vanilla creme sugar wafers. And there it was...
So, off I go to Wal-Mart. I still have no idea at this point how I am going to transfer a pack of vanilla cremes into a bridge. Despite this, I have decided that it definitely needs to be layers. the water needs to falling down the cake and I gotta figure out a way to do some kind of rough banks. All of this within my own personal requirements. Those requirements are the kickers. See, unlike most people who make cakes today (not 'real' cakes, but cute-sy, themed, decorated kinds), I am very strict about what goes on my cakes. I do not believe in putting appearance over taste. Therefore, my cakes are going to ALWAYS be edible. Everything... That means none of this fondant crap that makes these pretty picture perfect finishes, shapes, and three dimensional effects. And if the cake is for a child, everything used has to be safe for digestion! I have too many nieces and nephews to count them all... I *know* how quickly a child can snatch something off a cake and have it half chewed to China before you can turn around!


These requirements call for drastic measures at times let me tell you! And because I am Mary Alice's daughter, I am not afraid to take something meant for one thing and use it for another. Most people would probably fall over laughing if they'd ever seen half of the "tools" I use to decorate cakes! All of this adds up to a very NON profitable hobby. I've been asked a million times to make cakes for others. I won't do it because I know they are expecting "pretty". My cakes are normally pretty, but they aren't perfect. Therefore, only close friends and family get to experience an "Aunt B Cake"--their term, trust me, NOT mine.


But, long story short, here's the latest creation in a long line of quite unique, always delish, and very non typically put together birthday cakes! :)