Prince George creation 'a piece of cake' for NI baker Lara Mason

Lara Mason said she chose Prince George (pictured right) because he is cute and current

Amateur baker Lara Mason has licked the competition with a life-size cake fit for a future king.

Lara, 29, originally from Northern Ireland, made a 3ft (91cm) sponge replica of Prince George that won gold in the Cake International competition.

"Prince George is one of the most famous children and I wanted to do my nod to the Royal Family," she told BBC NI's Good Morning Ulster.

If the royal parents would like him, she would be happy to oblige, she said.

Lara Mason said it took 30 hours to create the cake version of the young prince

"If they come on the blower and ask me for him, I'll ship him down there."

George, dressed in his red shorts and white shirt - the outfit he wore for his baby sister's christening - took about 30 hours to create.

He took gold at the competition at Birmingham's NEC arena at the weekend.

The sponge statue stands at just under 3ft (91cm) tall

"I started to plan the cake a month ago, but I got married two weeks ago," said Lara, who now lives in Walsall, England.

"I spent about two hours a night after work on him."

He needed a strong structure, she explained.

Lara Mason created the structure of her Prince George cake...

...Then the body of the cake boy was built up...

...The baker then added texture to her Prince George cake....

...Prince George's face begins to take shape...

...Then she worked on the detail of Prince George's hair...

...And the prince's cake face

"If we, as humans, did not have a skeleton, we would be a big bowl of jelly on the floor. It is the same with my cakes. I start from the inside out. I make a structure, stack the cake up, it is quite a challenge.

"The internal structure is metal rods and wood and it is all covered in cling film. After that, it is cake, icing, butter cream, chocolate. Anything your heart desires - Willy Wonka on a plate."

In theory, you could eat George, but Lara is not so sure.

"If I cut into him, does that mean it is treason? I'm having a nightmare here. So I'm going to pop him in the window at my house and maybe put a Christmas hat on him and turn him into a decoration."

Cake baking is a part-time hobby for Lara, who works in customer relations.

But it is also a passion. She has previously won gold in the same competition with a 6ft high cake of actress Jennifer Lawrence, and her initial creation was actor Johnny Depp.

"He was my first big cake," she said, and that made parting a sweet sorrow.

Lara Mason - then Clarke - won a gold in 2013 for her Johnny Depp cake

"I put him in my mother in law's garage for a good three months. Eventually she just said; 'Right Lara I've had enough. I'm putting him in the bin.'

" You should have seen their faces down at the dump when we put him in the tip."

Jennifer Lawrence ended up as a feast for wildlife.

"I stripped off all her icing and put her out for the birds," she said.

Some people did not give Lara's cake the royal seal of approval.

Jennifer Lawrence ended up as a feast for the birds

"Someone has baked Prince George as a cake and now I'll never sleep again," read one tweet.

"There's nothing cute about that Prince George cake. It looks like something Doctor Who would fear," said another.

"Spooky as... " said yet another.

Rose Macefield's Jurassic Park cake portrays a T-Rex

The competition included a Tyrannosaurus Rex bursting out of a cake and Yoda from Star Wars levitating a cake.

There were more than 1,000 competition entries on show from cake decorators from across the globe.

Christine Jensen from Cornish cake company Peboryon made a levitating cake and Yoda

Emma Jayne Morris from Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taff created a Maleficent figure