One hundred and eighty years ago last month, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s SS Great Britain was launched by Prince Albert in Bristol Harbour. To celebrate the anniversary, Giuseppe Dell’Anno, a winner of the Great British Bake Off unveiled a cake replica of the historic ship. The cake was made by Occasion Cakes in Bedminster and was carved out of a block made from several sheets of sponge.

BBC reports that Mr. Dell’Anno, an engineer, cut the cake in front of young engineers and their families.

He said: “Engineering and baking are more similar than you think.”

“They are both about accuracy, precision, and they are both about creativity and being able to think outside the box – like with this magnificent cake,” he added.

The cake ship appears to suffer from a distinct hog and the smokestack and the masts have some issues of scale. Nevertheless, I have no doubt that it was tasty.

During the unveiling, Mr Dell’Anno poured dry ice in the funnel, to create artificial smoke.

The SS Great Britain’s Spectacular 180th Birthday Cake with Bake Off Winner Giuseppe Dell’Anno

At 322 feet long, SS Great Britain was the largest ship of her day. She was so large that it took a year to get her out of Bristol Harbor, requiring both dredging and the partial dismantling of a lock. She was powered by 1,000 HP steam engines, the largest engines of any ship in her day. Rather than turning paddle wheels, the engines turned a screw propeller. Great Britain‘s main propeller shaft, built by the Mersey Iron Works, was the largest single piece of machinery ever fabricated. She also had six masts, to carry sails when the winds were favorable and/or when the engines broke down or the propeller’s blades fell off as they did on the second voyage.