Last updated at 08:06 23 May 2007

It's long been the butt of cruel motoring jokes - but an ingenious new advert for the Skoda Fabia seems set to give the marque a new lease of life.

The 60-second commercial - which is reported to have cost up to £500,000 to make - shows a team of bakers, model makers and home economists as they set about creating an edible version of the car.

Here, Eimar O'Hagan looks at the car's creation, from oven to open road.

Scroll down to see how the Skoda cake was made...

1. The first egg is cracked. Only another 179 to go. Plus 100kg of flour and 100kg of caster sugar

2. A huge vat of chocolate sauce, 30kg of almonds and 65kg of dried fruit make the 'crispy cake' mix for the car's bodywork

3. Now it's the turn of two bakers to make 448 Madeira 'brick cakes' to form the foundation of the car's chassis

4. With the precision of a Formula One team, the Skoda crew sculpt every crumbly cog and sticky spark plug of the engine

5. Cake bricks are layered with buttercream icing - a slightly bigger job than your average Victoria sponge

6. Next, the body work takes shape as the crispy cake panels are carefully assembled

7. If you want your engine running smoothly, the perfect lubricant in this case is a 300g tin of golden syrup. Guaranteed to make it purr

8. Liquorice lovers take note: Yards of the black stuff was used to create the fanbelt, windscreen wipers and aerial

9. With the precision of a Formula One team, the Skoda crew sculpt every crumbly cog and sticky spark plug of the engine

10. Easy does it. This is delicate work. The paintwork is fondant icing, coloured with 180kg of orange sugar paste, moulded around the crispy cake panels

11. The panel beaters get to work. Visibility may be poor, but who cares when your windows are made from fondant icing and 90kg of brown sugar paste

12. 12.5kg of jam is piped onto Battenburg cakes, stuck together to form the interior decor. You'll never go hungry on long journeys Liquorice lovers take note: Yards of the black stuff was used to create the fanbelt, windscreen wipers and aerial

13. The radiators (60 chocolate blocks), headlights (boiled sweets) and fog lights (meringue) are put in place

14. These tyres are good enough to eat. Though since they're made from chocolate icing, they'd make you look like Michelin Man

15. The last thing you want to do is go all wobbly when you're inserting those jelly lights

16. With a final flourish, the Skoda logo is added. It's the icing on the cake!

Watch the Skoda advert here