LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN

Yup....that's me (the one in the pigtails). One year old Sueshine, staring in wide eyed wonder. Two tiers. Fluffy white shells. Pale purple rosettes. Plastic ballerinas dancing on sugary sweetness. It was love at first sight. My relationship with baked goods began on my first birthday.

I, Susanne Babb, am a baker.

Unfortunately, I’m also a type-2 diabetic. My body doesn’t know what the heck to do when it come in contact with sugar. It was pretty much destiny for me to become a diabetic because when I was little Sueshine, I vaguely remember my biological dad showing me how he had to prick his finger every day and put it in a little machine that would pop out numbers that meant nothing to me at the time (diabetes is highly hereditary). I didn’t think of it much until I was in college and I had to go to the clinic for a physical or something. They ran blood tests and I was told I was a pre-diabetic. WHAAAT…..LALALALA I’M NOT LISTENING!! Like any 19 year old college student, I shrugged it off and was in perpetual denial. So much so that my first date with my now husband, was to Extraordinary Desserts (horrible, I know). I mean, it did linger at the very, very, very back of my head occasionally and nagged at me from time to time. After a few years, I knew deep down I was full blown diabetic. I did little things like give up sugary sodas and switched to diet. When I got married, I only at a few bites of my AMAZING mocha wedding cake. Then it hit me about 2 ½ years ago. My mom went in for a physical….and she was diagnosed with diabetes. What the heck!? My mom too?!  At the time, I was still in denial even though I had all the signs of a diabetic. I was always tired (blamed it on the stress at work) and I would either get shooting pains in my feet or get the total opposite and my fingers would go numb. In 2009, I went in for a physical and was diagnosed a diabetic.

OH CRUEL, CRUEL WORLD TO MAKE ME A DIABETIC BAKER!! Kiss the desserts and baking goodbye  :( <---Sad Suzy!




My husband is dubbed the sugar police. Bless his heart though…he gave up sugar also to support me. I went on a desperate search for sugar free desserts but with little success. The ONE bakery in San Diego that specialized in sugar free baked goods closed the week of my 27^th birthday (they made an exception and made me a black forest cake!) I did find out at the time that Pillsbury made reduced sugar cake mix/frosting and sugar free Oreos were better than the regular ones. So when my hubby asked me for the 10 billionth time to find sugar free chocolate chip cookies (not pre-packaged), I thought, damn it, I’m a baker by nature, I can make them from scratch! I made them successfully with Splenda and it inspired something in me. If I wanted sugar free baked goods, I would have to teach myself to make them. I even took a cake decorating class and wondered how I could make frosting sugar free. I’d make cupcakes, pies, and cakes then bring them to work or family parties and little did everyone know (they do now…ha-ha!) that most, not all, of the stuff I was making was either sugar free or reduced sugar. No one ever called me out on it and I was even told I should start my own bakery. I started posting pictures of my baked goods on my Facebook, just to log what I had made.




In December 2010, little did my cousin Kristeen know her Christmas gift would spark something in me. She gave me a cake decorating book called Cakepops by Bakerella. Bak-a-who? I’d never heard of her but…..oooooh, pretty pictures of cakes….on sticks!! I wanna make one! Kristeen also told me that she had a blog online (http://www.bakerella.com/) and a Facebook….and I was hooked! I was on a cakepop/cake ball making roll and got positive feedback on the stuff I made. Then I got depressed. (Before I go further, brief background: My other inspiration for my blog is my hubby. A few years back he turned his little class in east San Diego county into an internet success. He started posting videos of his martial arts techniques on YouTube and now his style has gone international). So, back to my depression. Here was my hubby, making something of himself and I felt like I wasn’t doing anything with myself. I needed a hobby to keep myself occupied. What am I good at? The only thing I could think of was baking and cake decorating. Scott suggested that since I was already logging my stuff on Facebook, why not start a blog? Share my experiences and struggles as a diabetic baker. Share what I learn and discover along the way.




So as I approach my last year in my twenties, I begin this new journey. I plan on sharing my adventures/relationships/alternative recipes with food, both sweet and savory, my decorating projects, and my struggle to keep from biting into those cake decorating projects (and going into a diabetic shock). I hope you’ll come along with me and enjoy the ride.




Love <3 Lil Ms. Sueshine