Penguin good enough to eat at Living Coasts

A life-sized penguin cake has been made to mark a conservation charity’s tenth birthday.

The special cake, in the shape of a macaroni penguin, celebrates the first decade of Living Coasts, Torquay’s coastal zoo and aquarium.

This feat of culinary engineering is a 7-tier reinforced fruit cake smothered in marzipan and icing. It is some 60 cm (2 ft) tall and weighs around 15 kg (33 pounds). It was created by Hallett’s the Bakers, the leading South Devon craft bakers, who supply the Living Coasts cafe.

Helen Hallett, who made the cake, said: “I built a tower of fruit cake with supports at every level, then sculpted the shape with a sharp knife. The cake was covered in marzipan and finally black sugar-paste. After all that, replicating the head details was probably the easier part of the project!”

It took Helen about five hours to create the penguin. The cake will be on display in the café before and during the birthday weekend. It will be divided up for staff and volunteers to enjoy.

Living Coasts, on the English Riviera, opened in July 2003.

For more information go to www.livingcoasts.org.uk or ring 0844 474 3366.