History in the baking: this is a stunning copy of the Magna Carta – made from CAKE.
Skilled Christine Jensen spent nearly 100 hours faithfully creating the incredible full-size replica.
The mother-of-two painstakingly copied out the 4,000 Latin words of the original medieval document, writing them in food dye on fondant.
She then mounted it in a frame and put it on a base made from cake stands, XX and covered with icing.
The finished product is so good it will now go on display at Salisbury Cathedral alongside one of the four original Magna Cartas as part of the 800th anniversary celebrations.
Christine, 40, who runs a cake design business, said: “An edible Magna Carta was a major creative challenge but it felt important to celebrate such a remarkable piece of history.
“It was a real challenge, not least because I had never tried to write Medieval Latin before.
“I don’t know how the scribes managed to write it with a quill as the lettering is so intricate.
“But I felt it was really important to celebrate such an epic, historical milestone with the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta this year.
“One of the things I really love doing is making a cake that accurately tells the story. The only way I would do that in this case was literally writing it all out word for word.”
Christine, of Penzance, Cornwall, is married to Philip and has two children Sam, 14, and Eve, 11.
She locked herself away from her family for 94 hours over seven days to make the Magna Carta as historically accurate as possible.
Her replica is made of five different parts. The internal structures are all wooden or MDF but she has decorated it so every visible part is edible.
She used an old wooden picture frame for the document itself and inscribed the words using a food dye pen with a very fine tip.
She recreated the aged look of the original by staining it with warm vodka mixed with a tea bag.
The plinth, cabinet, stand and seal were made from a combination of gum and flour paste, fondant, royal icing, metallic food paint and several shades of food colouring.
Christine added: “Everything you see you can eat but this was a showcase for my skills so it won’t be eaten – despite the kids wanting to tuck in.
“I have been in contact with Salisbury Cathedral who want to host it as part of an exhibition there and it should last for months.”
Christine immersed herself in history books and programmes about the famous document – but a third of the way through had doubts about carrying on.
She said: “It was very important to me that it was historically on point – but there were times I thought I had taken on a little more than I could handle.
“I knew it was a big project but it was for a competition.
“It was taking me two hours to complete four lines but I thought that if I keep going I will come to the end of it.
“I would start in the morning, drop the children off at school and work through the night.
“I would often work up to 15 hours a day on the project and finished on day seven at 3am.
“It was long hours but that is what you need to do if you are going to do it well.
“There were some low points when I started to lose the will to live. But I would post inspirational stickie notes to get me through it.
“I am really happy with how it turned out.
“My family were really encouraging and I am so lucky to have such strong support. I couldn’t have done it without them.
“It took a lot of time and skill. But the end result was entirely worth the effort and after seven days of intensive work it was nice to see my family again.”
Last week Christine drove her masterpiece on the 800 mile round trip to Manchester for the Cake International exhibition – with her heart in her mouth whenever she hit a pothole.
But it arrived in one piece and won her gold and first prize in the Decorative Exhibit Category.
Competition judge Alan Shipman said: “I’ve seen a lot of entries over the years, but this work is quality.
“To have the level of historical accuracy, down to the pin-holes, is remarkable.”
