Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

.
I think I've found a new technique to help me with my diet. Maybe you're like me and always struggling with staying on the diet and trying to lose weight. Sometimes (and I mean a random sometimes--I haven't pinned down what works yet) it can help to simply look at food. The food itself can be so pleasing to the eye, that there's no need to taste it.
Now before you roll your eyes at me, I do mean this literally. But again, I don't always know why some foods satisfy with a look. Sometimes I can look at a food and that's not enough. I want to put it into my mouth and savor the taste. Obviously chocolate is one of those foods that have to be tasted. Looking at it never satisfies unless I'm looking at it in my hand, headed toward my mouth.
Last night when there was nothing on TV, I found myself landing on the food network. Now, that channel can be a dangerous one. One show can make me long for just a taste (a big taste!) of whatever the chef of the hour is cooking up. At other times, I know I'd never make the recipe myself, but I enjoy watching them make it. (I'm rarely inspired to get excessively creative in the kitchen!)
But last night I stumbled across a show called Ace of Cakes. I hesitated. Cake is one of my weaknesses, after all. Along with all things sweet. But I wanted to see what they were going to do. And I have to say, these guys are amazing! I was totally inspired by their work, but felt not the slightest desire to eat cake. Probably because their creations are such works of art, it's a shame to actually cut and eat them.
The first cake they made was a giant replica of a book that had just been published, and they were making this cake for the book launch party. Totally incredible work complete with painting the founding fathers on the cover and displaying the whole cake on top of edible paper printed with edible ink, made up to look like the Federalist Papers.
The next cake was shaped and decorated to look like rows of classics on a library cart. These looked like real books, and it was an incredible piece of work. Then they made a cake that looked like a stack of favorite toys for the first birthday of a set of twins. They worked off an actual picture of a stack of actual favorite toys.
These cakes were so incredible I couldn't imagine actually eating one. Although, supposedly they taste fantastic as well. It was just so much fun to look at! My boys came in and watched the show with me. They're not fond of the food network, but they were fascinated by this show!
So for once I was able to have my cake without the accompanying guilt or sugar-induced headache. I found out that this bakery is called Charm City Cakes, and their website has a lot more pictures of their fantastic creations. The pictures on the blog today are two of the cakes that I found on their website. What fun! I'm enjoying food with no calorie-counting. My only fear is this: I seem to gain weight just looking at food. I'm afraid my visit to their website may have put on ten pounds! Check it out at your own risk.