No your eyes really do not deceive you, that is a massive lifelike model of King Charles in the form of a cake.
It is the brainchild of Emma Jayne Morris, 53, from Aberdare, Wales, who scupltered His Majesty out ofRice Krispies and marshmallows before building his face with chocolate.
On top of his head is Charles’s iconic crown – specially made with 2,500 zodiac crystals all individual placed by baking whiz Emma.
The edible parts – which include the giant ruby on the front and sapphire on the back -are crafted from tempered sugar isomalt and sugarpaste.
Emma painstakingly spent 120 hours working on the 5ft 10ins model and completed the King’s body using 60kg (9 stone) of sugarpaste.
Charles has been showcased at the Cake International event at the NEC in Birmingham, which begins today and runs until Sunday.
Emma said: ‘I decided to pick King Charles with it being his coronation year.
‘I know we’re a few months down the line but I wanted to mark what was a historic occasion for the country.
‘I first hand carved the shapes out of polystyrene, which was extremely time consuming, making sure I had everything down to his exact height.
‘Then I covered it in what would probably be the equivalent of about six wedding cakes worth of baking materials.
‘If I had done the entire thing out of cake, we would not have been able to transport it, and we like to be careful with food wastage too.
‘It took me about four days to do the crown and the head and body took three days each. I worked from 8am to midnight each day to get it ready in time.
‘The King has such distinctive features from his nose to his ears and I wanted to make it as lifelike as possible without it becoming a caricature.
‘His eyes were definitely the most time-consuming part of the cake.
‘Made from modelling paste, hand painted and filled with piping gel the fully edible eyes were put in the air fryer in dehydration mode for a whole day to dry out the gel and create a lifelike, glazed look.
‘His eyelashes are made from individual strands of wheat painted with edible colouring and individually placed on his eyelids with precision and care.
‘This lifelike detail is so important for me, especially when we are talking about the King.’
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