Baker made ‘open heart surgery cake’ – chest the thing to help hospital celebrate – Cambridgeshire Live – Cambridgeshire Live

Talented bakers created this heart-stopping cake for their local hospital - a super-realistic depiction of open heart surgery.

The bloody concoction, which looks like a prop from a hospital drama, features a patient's chest in the operating theatre, with red-filled tubes and a rib spreader.

But it was actually a chocolate cake assembled by talented husband and wife team Nina and John Blackburn, both 45.

The main body of the cake was stuffed with a hazelnut truffle filling - not organs - and covered in a hazelnut ganache.

It was iced, airbrushed using edible skin tone paint and decorated with diluted strawberry jam and red food colouring.

Even the tubes were filled with red jelly - and all the surgical tools and clamps were solid chocolate, painted over with edible dust.

The cake was gifted to the cardiac unit in Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand.

The realistic creation by cake decorator Nina, from Auckland, fed 300 medical workers.

Nina said: "It is my biggest chocolate piece challenge to date, and I was a bundle of nerves putting the final piece together on site!

"I was contacted by clinical director and cardiothoracic surgeon David McCormack to create a cake for the 30th anniversary of the Waikato Hospital cardiac unit.

"When I was speaking to David and listening to how passionate he was about his hospital team and what it meant to him, I was reminded about my own experiences.

"My son and I had been in a freak accident, and I cracked my ribs and was unable to decorate cakes for a wee while.

"From there it seemed one thing after another went wrong health-wise, resulting in many surgeries and hospital stays.

"But I was always taken care of.

"The surgeons were always so kind, as well as the scrub nurses and I was always treated with care and compassion in theatre and after.

"I was really touched, and felt compelled to gift them a cake."

The body of the cake was made by another company, NZ Bakels, and decorated by Nina and her husband - aka Make Pretty Cakes.

She said the cake was "so realistic that it fooled experienced surgeons and theatre staff".

Nina said 300 staff devoured the cake - made from 21kg of cake batter, 4kg of chocolate, 3kg of hazelnut truffle, and 4.5kg of fondant - within 24 hours.

She said: "I worried I'd break it - or worse, spill melted chocolate all over the finished cake!

"The chocolate surgical tools took several days and many breakages to make, but I was so happy with the final result!

"I made heaps, and John helped me shave the chocolate on every single piece!"

A message of thanks from the hospital said: "The kindness and generosity of Make Pretty Cakes team is beyond description.

"Our entire hospital was touched by the kind gesture to support the 30th anniversary of cardiac surgery in Waikato Cardiothoracic Unit.

"Make Pretty Cakes we cannot thank you enough for the amazing gift that you provided us of you time and unparalleled skill."

Creative Nina said she started decorating cakes for fun but went into the profession full-time after it became "a full-blown love affair".

She added: "I love love making 3D cakes, and hyper-realistic cakes that people at parties won't forget in a hurry!"

The open heart surgery cake was baked for the 30th anniversary on December 14.

Read more:

Baker made 'open heart surgery cake' - chest the thing to help hospital celebrate - Cambridgeshire Live - Cambridgeshire Live