Crime Deterrent

This cake is a surprise that's being shipped to my aunt who's turning 78 this week, as kind of an inside joke. Her 40-something son lives with her, but travels fairly frequently on business, thus leaving her home alone. Whenever he's going to be gone more than one night, he will stuff the guest bed with pillows, making it look like a man is sleeping there. (Evidently believing the nasty bad men will take one look at those pillows, get scared, and move on to their next unsuspecting victim.)

His latest trip sent him out of town for six weeks, so he stuffed the bed with extra large pillows to look like an extra big man, and this time added the decorative sword that usually hangs by their front door at his side -- for extra protection over a longer period of time.

This potential threat to all crime fighters everywhere is a lump of carefully-crafted fondant sleeping on lime green polka-dotted sheets and a white satin pillow, with a daisy-covered turquoise coverlet atop his large self. The giant copper and silver sword adds quite the ominous touch. There's even a size 14 pair of brown slippers on the floor on the other side of the bed -- ready for action at a second's notice.

I hope she gets the joke the minute she sees the cake ...