Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

A Russian woman has won the best Decorative Figure prize at the UK’s Cake International competition with her fearsome-looking Predator desert.

Tatyana Kholodtsova, 48, from the Russian city of Saint Petersburg told Newsflash that creating tasty figures has been her favourite pastime over the past 10 years.

The creative baker even has a dedicated ‘cake room’ set aside in her apartment just for her hobby.

The cake room boasts mood lighting and an air conditioner to keep her cake creations constantly cool without the risk of melting.

Kholodtsova even displays some previous works in glass containers on shelves around the flat.

She said the cost of the ingredients to make her award-winning Predator desert was just RUB 1,500 (GBP 15), however, she does not intend to sell it.

Kholodtsova told Newsflash: “This is not quite a cake in the usual sense, this is a competition work made of modelling chocolate. It is not intended to be eaten, but is made entirely of edible ingredients and can be eaten if desired. It will stay on display in my flat in a glass case.”

The figure is 34 centimetres long and the background is waffle paper dyed with food colouring, the moss is corn silk, and the water is glucose syrup.

Kholodtsova said it took a total of 40 hours to create the Predator, the title character of the film series of the same name.

She told Newsflash that she chose the character because it is the most challenging she could think of due to its many small details.

Cake International was held in Birmingham in early March and about 800 applications from all over the world took part in the competition.

The contest was held online for the second time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kholodtsova said it would have been hard for her to attend in person if it was not staged virtually because of the travelling and accommodation costs involved.

She added that she is thinking about training her son and entering him in the children’s event as he also wants to make cakes of his favourite videogame characters.

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