The 100 Hour, $500 Cake

Am I crazy? Perhaps I am. I have never been known to do something half way. If I'm going to bother to do something at all, I'm going to put everything I have into it. That's just the way I've always been. While I'm sure I could use some time in the chair of a good therapist to explore my perfectionistic/obsessive tendencies, I choose to look on the bright side. My "obsessions" can lead the the coolest results . . . Megan's 2nd birthday cake included. (EVERYTHING on this cake is edible, made from melted marshmallows and confectioner's sugar . . . and made by little old me!)

I really struggled with the theme for the party. While I would have hoped for a completely girly theme with princesses and lots of pink, my little girl has a thing for Elmo. Trust me, I tried to talk her out of it. We watched the Little Mermaid several times. I showed her Strawberry Shortcake and dreamed of a pink and green cake, adorned with polka dots and juicy berries. My efforts were fruitless . . . Megan remained steadfastly loyal to her little red friend. Yikes! How was I going to make an ugly little monster look cute? This was the best I could do with what I had to work with. I'm pretty pleased with the result. Getting there was another story altogether.

It all started 100 hours and 500 dollars ago . . .

The first step was baking the cakes. I was so rushed that I didn't properly grease my pans and disaster resulted.

All four cakes that I spent the entire morning baking broke coming out of the pan. Then, to make matters worse, I crashed into John's car in the driveway while backing out. That was a very costly mistake, indeed, since the insurance company says we have to pay BOTH deductibles to get the cars repaired. (John didn't say it but I know he thought it . . . "Wouldn't it be easier (and cheaper, ha!) to just buy a cake from the grocery store?") Thankfully, he knew how stressed I was and didn't give me a hard time about playing bumper cars in the driveway.

The next batch of cakes came out perfectly. Thank goodness because we were out of cars to crash!
Please forgive the state of my kitchen. I think it was about 1 am by the time I torted and layered the cakes. It was probably 1:30 am when I began icing them.

Next, it was time to cover the cakes with homemade fondant.

At about 2 am, I began drinking. So glad John took this picture because it just captures the whole experience . . . the kitchen a mess, my clothes a mess, ME a mess. Bottoms up! (I rarely drink but this seemed as good a time as any.) I think I'll leave this one out of the scrapbook though.

Actually, this is the kind of stress I thrive upon. I'm not good at relaxing and I get restless very easily. I used to ride around in a police car "fighting crime and suppressing evil" for my adrenaline fix. Now I'm making Sesame Street cakes with homemade fondant (half drunk, no less!) Isn't it funny how much one little kid can change your life!?!