6ft Nativity scene cake to raise money for C of E school

An amateur baker who created a 6ft nativity scene out of cake has said it took her six months.

Lynn Nolan started crafting her vision of Bethlehem in the summer, with the icing taking two months to complete.

The former florist said she used 240 eggs, 50kg of marzipan, 90kg of icing and four litres of whiskey.

Now on display in the Youlgreave village shop near Bakewell, Derbyshire, the scene shows an entire street of LED candle-lit houses, market stalls and the traditional stable.

The 61-year-old, originally of Manchester, made headlines last December when she baked a replica of her entire village to raise money for roof repairs for the local church.

A year on, Ms Nolan said: “I had people saying, ‘are you doing it again, are you doing it again?’, and I found out the school needed a new playground.

“The baby Jesus is so tiny, it’s about the size of the top of your little finger. So actually, getting his head on was a nightmare.

“There are all the little houses and wiring it all up with little lights was tough.”

She said the hardest part was the camels, adding they ended up looking like “the Loch Ness Monster”.

She continued: “It was all in my head, I had a vision of where I was going but I didn’t write it down.

“The icing of the whole cake took about two months, but I think from start to finish it took six months.”

She said supermarkets donated a total of £225 towards the ingredients, which came to an estimated £850, and some were donated by local…