A talented baker has recreated the house in the classic Christmas movie Home Alone as a stunning cake.
Grace Hunt, 35, spent four weeks baking, crafting, and hand-painting the mansion from the festive movie for her shop’s festive window display for her community to enjoy.
Now the edible 29 inches tall and 11 and a half inches wide model has proved a big attraction at her store – Grace Eva Cakes – in Beverley, near Hull, East Yorkshire.
But tragically, Grace said no one will be able to eat the cake as it is set to be binned at the end of the jolly season.
The cake shop owner explained she decided to make it because the film turned 35 years old in November – the same month as her birthday – and it is also her ‘favorite film to watch’ over the Christmas period.
The 1990s picture tells the story of eight-year-old Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin, who defends his home in Chicago, USA, from burglars after he is accidentally left alone at Christmas when his family leaves for a holiday to Paris.
The cake, which is a vanilla sponge with dark chocolate ganache and covered in fondant, sits as the focal point on a 32-inch board, which also includes the house driveway and villain’s Harry and Marv’s van.
Grace says she doesn’t know how much it weighs, but it takes “two people to carry.”
She has also told how she spent hours patiently hand-painting the cake, fully including each brick, roof slate, and window before it was sprinkled with Icing sugar for the effect of snow.
The star baker, also from Beverley, said: “It was so fun to make, I love making these types of cakes.
“I’m so happy with the result.
“It took me about four weeks to make, as only I work in the shop, and I had to fit it in with my busy schedule.
“The first part of the process is stacking and carving the cake; it was actually quite tricky carving as I wanted it to be to scale.
“I then covered it with two layers of ganache, one to act as a crumb coat and the second to make sure it is nice and smooth.
“I used the ganache so it would keep it sturdy as it will be facing the winter sun whilst it is sat in the window.
“Once that was done, it was then down to covering it with the fondant and starting hand painting.
“I was in the shop until about 11 pm the day I painted the bricks.
“Then I added the final touches of icing sugar to act as snow.”
Grace said the hardest part was painting the iconic ‘M’ onto the door handle as well as ensuring the railings she made using florist wire – used to stick flowers into cakes – stayed stuck down.
She said, “There were times when I was closer to picking up the cake and chucking it against the wall, but I wanted to make sure it had all the details, as that brings out the magic.”
Grace said people are “heartbroken” that they won’t be able to try it.
The baker also said she has had a couple of people “not believe” it is made out of cake, but when it comes time to throw it away, she says she will “cut it open to prove it is in fact cake”.
But for now, she is going to keep it in the window for as long as possible.
Grace made the cake for her community during a ‘window cake reveal’ she has done every year since 2021.
She has previously made cake versions of a Reindeer, Father Christmas, and an Igloo with penguins.
