Were you ever one of those kids who used to sneak-read?

Your parents would tell you lights out and you'd pretend to sleep until you could hear they were out of range. Then you'd sneak a torch, or any handy light source, under the covers and get stuck into a novel, heart beating from the adrenaline at the thought of getting caught.

And just sometimes, you'd be so into the book that you'd fall asleep. Still engrossed in the story, your dreams would follow suit — you lived the story with eyes wide shut as you dreamed the hours away. That's exactly what happened to this little boy…

Reading his favourite pirate novel, his eyes grew heavy and he fell asleep. His room transformed as his bed set sail.

He takes his teddy companion and grabs hold of a mast, ready to embark on a piratey adventure.

Where did his dreams take him? That story is left for you to fill in the blanks.

One lace it did stop off at was Bundoora Park. This Pirate Dreams cake is the cake I made for my cousin's son's first birthday. She wanted to purchase a cake off of me, but I decided to do this as a gift for the little man. This is the same little boy whose parents received the baby shower cupcakes before he was born. Perhaps I'm staring something here…

She asked for chocolate mud cake, and so this turned out to be the heaviest fondant covered cake yet! It was heavier than the two tier jobby I did for the last birthday numero uno.

The bed is also cake. Both are covered in chocolate ganache and then marshmallow fondant. I brushed the 'water' with tinted piping gel to give it a wet look.

The main cake makes the floor of the room, beneath which is home to the fishies.

There were little schools of them on all sides of the cake.

And we can't forget Mr. Cheeky Octopus, who wants to know what happens next in the story.

The flag is the only part that's not fondant. I had a single afternoon to make the entire cake so I thought I'd take the paper route so I didn't lose it over the flag not staying straight. To be honest, between a week of 5am starts and 10pm finishes, I'm surprised I managed to even start the cake, let alone finish it!

Yet despite any annoyances I had with it, it became the centre of attention (when I eventually rocked up, late). Parents were apparently thrilled by it. My Aunt, who likes to dob me in, made sure to make a point of saying I should be in the photos with it in front of everyone. The kids – they didn't care, man – it was cake! But I even heard them asking who made it. It seems the pirate theme is loved by all – old and young.

The cake filled tummies and I heard kids going back for plentiful serves. My cousin, who had taken the whole bed off the top and put it on a plate for saving told the kids there was no more cake before winking at me. But that served a purpose I hadn't intended or considered – the bed cake acted as a keep sake, while the bottom was enough for the guests. My cousin told me she never found the heart to eat the baby shower cupcakes — I wonder what will become of this?

x-posted here @ bakebakebake