WORLD OF PURE IMAGINATION

Sarah Hardy, 52, from Suffolk, spends her time creating wonderful, wacky chocolates, designed to entice and repulse you...

- KEZIA REYNOLDS

As I pottered around my kitchen, a delicious smell was rising throughout.

I'd spent all day creating the most amazing Christmas cake.

Only, my Christmas-themed treat was one like no other.

A life-size raw turkey cake, specially crafted to show the veiny, pale body of the headless bird, ready for roasting.

You see, my bakes have never been twee, or cutesy.

I have always loved the weird and the wonderful.

A life-size raw turkey cake was far more me than any yule log or Xmas pud.

I had always been creative, studying art at university and working as a sculptor.

But making birthday cakes for my two children, Jack, now 16, and Fern, now 14, I found my calling, combining crazy structures with delicious bakes.

Every year food was a huge part of the kids' birthdays, and it would become more extravagant with every turn of the sun.

For Fern's fifth birthday in 2013 I created a stunning Alice in Wonderland cake out of gingerbread, using a wok to mould the fantasy.

When the children were little, I found I was unable to keep working as a wax-work sculptor, so, I gave up my London studio.

I might as well just use the kitchen, I thought.

And my passion for baking sculptures began.

I began working tirelessly to build up a strong, loyal base of customers, and soon my work grew in popularity.

I even baked rock legend Mick Jagger's daughter's birthday cake for her party, which was cool.

With another sculptor, I created an actress cake with an open cavity in her chest, exposing her rib cage and beating heart.