Lincolnshire baker's award-winning cakes offer taste of the dark side

A zombie called Edward is one of the award-winning creations by baker Lauren Marland

A Lincolnshire baker's horror-based cake creations have been acclaimed at a major international competition.

Lauren Marland, 30, from Witham St Hughs, who has been baking for 10 years, scooped three awards at Cake International in Birmingham.

One of Ms Marland's scary creations, a bloodied and dismembered zombie called Edward, won bronze in the competition's horror category.

She said the contest had been an "amazing experience".

Ms Marland's award-winning pumpkin cake was covered in sculpted chocolate

Ms Marland, who runs a business called Caking it Special and a YouTube tutorial channel, said "Edward" was modelled over several months from polystyrene and wire as the creations in the contest's horror category were only judged on their appearance.

"He does have some steel wire in him, but this category is all about the decorating not about the taste, so he was never going to be cut," she explained.

"I do like my horror films and my darker stuff, but I also like Disney. So, there is a big jump between them."

Two more of Ms Marland's competition entries also won approval from the judges.

Her pumpkin cake won bronze in the sculpted and carved category, while her cake-based depiction of a witch's living room was awarded a merit in the miniature category.

Edward the zombie took Ms Marland two months to perfect

Ms Marland said: "Cake International is the biggest cake decorating competition in the world.

"It's scary. You do feel like you're well out of your depth when you get there, but it is an amazing experience."

Ms Marland said she started her business with husband Trevor, 43, after first making cakes for family and friends.

Later, they expanded into making wedding cakes and bespoke creations.

Mr Marland said transporting the cakes to Birmingham for the Cake International contest had proved a bit of a challenge.

"It was a two-man job to lift into the van. Every pothole, every speed bump you go over, you feel it. But we got there in the end."

Ms Marland's witch's house cake won a merit in the miniature award category

Ms Marland has been baking cakes professionally for a decade