I...can't even believe that's real. Created by level 110 alchemist/cake creator Baking Obsession (AKA Vera) for her son's birthday, this is an absolutely unbelievable Alduin cake from Skyrim. *brain explodes shooting cobwebs everywhere*

The cake itself and the dragon was my attempt to reproduce a sculpture from a set of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Collector's Edition (a computer game by Bethesda). I started making it using photos I found on the internet. Later, when we purchased the set, I realized that my pretty birdy was getting way too big, almost twice the size of the statue. To make the whole thing proportional, I had to scale up the size of the cake itself. It was made of four 13″x18″ sheets of chocolate cake, soaked in strawberry syrup, and sandwiched with bittersweet strawberry ganache (5 lbs of chocolate). Alduin's core is made of modeling chocolate. His scales, horns, and spikes are made from gum paste. The double-sided wings are half-and-half (fondant/gum paste). His eyes are Swarovsky crystals. At first, I planned to make them edible from isomalt, but these ruby-like gems were so perfect in their brightness and size, so I changed my mind. I knew Tim would never ever let anybody have a bite from Alduin, so a couple unedibles seemed OK.

Now I'm not saying every person with a cake-baking show on television should just admit their inferiority and cancel their programs out of respect, but they should and you and I both know it. There's just no topping this. It's like Vera was Cakeborn and can speak in the language of icing. Muh wush wondanugh hanfeahs muhmuh I wuh spuhhum. That? That was me speaking in the language of half-chewed breakfast bar. We're both talented in our own ways.

Hit the jump for a bunch more shots but be sure to check out Vera's blog for even more info and pictures.

Thanks to cocoa, who made a big cookie last night and I have every intention of eating the center out of it and then putting my face through it and pretending it's my lion's mane.