Does anyone else lose sleep because they have cake designs running through their head? Or am I the only looney tune? I lost another night of sleep because I had this FABULOUS idea for an anniversary cake and no one to do it for. But I of course had to figure out what colors, the design, the size and shape......etc. Then I finally fall asleep, only to wake up in the middle of the night with a change in design or another idea!

Please tell me I am not alone. How do I make it stop long enough to get some sleep!?!?!?!

Witchy says:
Heh, heh, heh... Another one agonizing in the sweet dreams of cake decorating... cake stacking... different borders...
Yes, yes, my pretty - Women with all boys dream of making pretty girlish cakes... Those with young children long to make elegant designs... Buttercream flower wizards fight to learn fondant figures, while fondant figure makers gnash their teeth with frustration trying to make royal icing filigree...

If you ever figure it out, let me know your secret. I dream about cake designs, only to wake up and then I HAVE to sketch them out.

ok - I feel a little better....but is it truly just the 3 of us?

Me too.....I think it happens because we "turn-off" all the other stressful thoughts from the day and as we relax our brain lets our creative side take over...i've learned that the night before I start a big project is the worst and I generally have to take a sleep-aid or I will be up all night thinking of how to make the cake/cookies better.

How do you handle it? There are so many things that I want to design and try, but with three kids I really don't have the time OR the energy! So, it REALLY makes me nuts! I think that is another reason I don't sleep....because there is so MUCH I want to do and learn. Make sense?

Me, me, me!!! I actually have a notepad on my side table for nights like that I also have a sketchpad that i use to sketch all the cakes i fantasize about making.

So many ideas, not enough people to make them for

Oh gosh me too.. it's an afliction I am willing to live with.. LOL

KathyTW - I used to go through the same thing before a performance or wen I was learning a new piece - that was ALL I would hear in my head.

Keep it coming CCers...I am starting to feel better, tired, but better!

I read about this in a magazine and it really works.

Start at 100 and count backwards until 0, picturing each number in your head. If your brain wanders, go back to the last number you remember before you wandered.

Lately I haven't been using this technique because I'd rather be thinking about cakes!

You're too funny pastryjen!!! I think if I start visualizing each number, then somehow they will be incorporated onto a cake. OOOHHH!!!! Wouldn't that be cool? Have all of he numbers on a cake for somebody's birthday and then put the actual age on the top??!! Thanks for the idea pastryjen!

I always feel more relaxed when I sketch them out. I too keep a sketch pad with some colored pencils in my nightstand. I wake up, sketch it out, and once its out of my brian, and on paper, I can relax. I know then that I wont have to remember it, since its on paper.

The silliest things give me cake ideas too, like a certain color combo on a piece of ribbon in someones hair. Or a design on a tee shirt. I feel like a dork most days, when someone is talking to me, and I drift off thinking about how I can incorporate their tee shirt design and shoe color into a cake . I think I need a support group.

CakesbyLJ - very cool cake! I love it!

My DH has gotten to the point that he starts laughing if I say.."you know what would look good?" So now I don't even preface it. I just blurt out my ideas now. But he suggested that I put together some display cakes with my ideas on it - to take as much time as I need to do one cake. It IS a good idea, but then I go crazy trying to figure out WHICH idea I should do first!

I have tried the sketching thing too, still do it, but it doesn't help enough. I am hoping that I should sleep better tonight since I had a couple of beers - WHOO-HOO!!!! Although I am thinking of the new cupcake baking cups I ordered and how I could design them....and the new oreo cookie molds that I ordered....and the new dvds that I ordered.....and what to get with my birthday gift card.....*sigh* Doesn't look like I'll get a lot of sleep tonight after all.

Yes, I totally do this too. I get annoyed occasionally, but honestly, I have the BEST ideas when I am laying in bed awake in the middle of the night. I especially enjoy some of the engineering ideas I come up with when I should be sleeping. I will trade sleep for brilliance any time. lol

sleep thats the place you go to figure out all your cake problem you lie down relax and then it hits you you should do this or that my boyfriend says hes going to start sleeping on the couch when i have cakes in my head

I guess it is to be my lifes' curse/blessing to never sleep again. First it was music, then kids, now cake. Will it ever return?!?! Tee-hee. I guess it is better to dream about them rather than eat them all night!