Walsall cake maker Lara hoping she has golden ticket
A talented Walsall cake maker is hoping she has the golden ticket at this year's Cake International with her edible Willy Wonka creation.
The world's largest cake competition has kicked off at Birmingham NEC over the weekend.
Cake International is the largest display of cake competition pieces, demonstrators and industry experts from around the world. It teaches the newest trends in the cake world and features stands full of must-have baking and sugarcrafting essentials.
Lara Mason from Brownhills, is putting yet another one of her masterpieces forward inspired by the late Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.
This year, Lara is entering her cake into the large decorative exhibit section of the competition, with hopes of returning home with another gold award. In previous years, Lara has won gold with her magnificent life-like cake structures of Jennifer Lawrence, Jack Sparrow and Prince George.
The 30-year-old said: "I found out I was pregnant in July though so I decided I wasn't going to do it but later decided that if other people can do it whilst pregnant I can too so I'll give it a go.
"At the start of the pregnancy I was suffering from a lot of sickness so having the cake to work on took my mind off it."
Lara decided to craft a Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka in the 1970s original film, after his death and to mark what would have been Roald Dahl's 100th birthday.
"Willy Wonka was one of the most iconic characters of all time and I'm sure he would've wanted to make himself out of sugar," says Lara.
"I stick on a Roald Dahl movie and just get on with it – it's relaxing and a good use of my spare time."
Lara isn't the only one with a huge washing up pile by the sink, Juliet Schofield from Woverley is has also been putting frantic last preparations together for the big day.
Juliet is taking part in a fairytale forest exhibition, presented by Sugar Show Productions. More than 20 cake artists have been working together to present the range of enchanting and mythical creatures.
Juliet owns her own cake shop, Marzipan Moon and Sugar Dust Stars, in Stourbridge.
The Cake International Show is taking place until tomorrow with tickets £14 from theticketfactory.com
