THE baking skills of a Trowbridge resident earned her a silver award at an international cake competition for her Mother Earth creation.

Sarah Romain, of Seymour Road, spent the best part of a week making her cake for Cake International - an annual event at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

The 38-year-old mother of four entered herself into the carved novelty cake class at the UK's leading cake decorating, sugarcraft and baking show and achieved a silver award for her efforts on Saturday.

"I am chuffed to bits for receiving this mark and really proud of how it all turned out," said Mrs Romain, who has her own business at her home called Sarah's Cake by Design.

"I had to get the cake to Birmingham between 7am-8.45am on Friday and I was putting it all together up until 5am that day. It was a real slog but it was definitely worth it.

"There are so many categories to enter and a good 1,500 or so cakes get judged on, so it goes without saying that some of the cakes were spectacular.

"This was a Madeira cake and it took nearly six days to do. It is around a foot high and has many layers to it, with lots of fondant icing, chocolate ganache and cocoa butter.

"My family are really proud of me."