Johnny Depp cake: Woman bakes giant Jack Sparrow Published duration 8 November 2013

image caption Lara Clarke only started designing cakes two years ago

image caption Ms Clarke's cake-decorating skills were learnt online

A woman has baked an "almost life-sized" Johnny Depp cake for a competition.

Lara Clarke, an amateur baker from Brownhills, West Midlands, made the Pirates of the Caribbean-inspired creation for the Cake International competition in Birmingham.

image caption The 5ft 5in cake was transported by minibus

She said: "The judges are probably more used to seeing three-tier wedding cakes than giant Jack Sparrows."

A competition spokesperson said entrants' creativity was "surprising".

Ms Clarke, who is entering the 5ft 5in (1.65m) cake in the large decorative exhibit section of the competition, said she had only started baking two years ago.

"All I'd really made before was some bog-standard banana cake in home economics," she said.

"The first time I baked a decorated cake was for my mother-in-law's 25th wedding anniversary. I thought it was rubbish but everybody else seemed to like it."

Since then, Ms Clarke has baked cakes for family and friends.

Previous efforts have included a 4ft (1.2m) Grinch cake, a motorbike and a cake replica of her mother-in-law.

Ms Clarke, who works for a bingo website, said she learned her skills from watching YouTube videos.

The Johnny Depp cake is the first time she has attempted anything on such a large scale.

"One of my friends was on the phone and said I should enter Cake International," she said.

"At the time I was watching Pirates of the Caribbean. I was watching Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, and I thought he would make the perfect cake.

"He wears all these different fabrics, so he has lots of different textures to him.

"He's just shy of life-size because I was worried we wouldn't be able to get him out of the door.

media caption The 5ft 5in cake was transported to the cake show by minibus

"It took me 90 hours to make. We live with my fiancé's parents and I think they will be pleased to get rid of it.

"When my father-in-law first saw him, he leapt about 10ft in the air thinking we had burglars."

Ms Clarke has hired a minibus to take Johnny to the competition. The results will be known on Sunday.

She said: "The competition is like the Crufts of the baking world. People like Mary Berry will be there."

A spokesperson for Cake International said: "There really is no limit to the talent and ingenuity of the competitors."