Milford cake maker Mandy Black of Amanda Black Cakes takes silver in Cake International competition at Birmingham’s NEC with Charles Dickens-themed cake

A cake maker extraordinaire has whipped contestants from across the globe to take silver at a major international competition.

Mandy Black was “absolutely thrilled” to come second in the Christmas and Winter Wonderland category with a Charles Dickens-themed creation.

Mandy, from Milford, took on the world’s best in the Cake International competition at Birmingham’s NEC.

She said: “I was just completely blown away when I was given silver. This is the biggest cake competition in the world and the skill on show there was just unbelievable.”

“I was actually just two points away from taking the gold!”

Mandy, who runs Amanda Black Cakes, creates impressive centrepieces for all kinds of celebrations, and said she decided to enter the contest back in March this year.

She added: “I have entered lots of competitions and won awards, but this is the big one! I started designing the cake in June and worked on it almost up to the day of the competition.

“I wanted to go for a Charles Dickens/steampunk look.

“It has been really hard work. The tier that looks like a book has 2,000 individual bricks in it. The links on the chain had to be exactly 5cm long each.

I had one disaster when I created Victorian wallpaper for the top tier. When I put it on it just didn’t look right so I had to strip it off and start again.”

Mandy said she put around 500 hours into completing the cake and, having finished it, she had the nervewracking job of transporting it all the way to Birmingham.

“It was terrifying but I got it there. My poor friend lost the top tier of her cake taking it there, but she managed to repair it so well she won gold in her category.”

Mandy used to work for River Island before deciding to turn her hobby into a business.

She said: “I have always loved creating cakes. When I left River Island I made a cake that looked like a handbag.

“People thought it was amazing. Whenever I made cakes for a hobby, like for birthdays, lots of people asked me if I could create one for them.

“So in the end I just decided to go for it and start doing it as a job.”

Mandy said there is great camaraderie in the cake world, revealing: “I was on my own when they announced me as the winner and people I didn’t even know came rushing up to me to give me a hug.”

She is already planning her entry for the competition next year: “I often hand paint my cakes and thought I would go for a New Forest theme with the ponies and everything.”