Mother bakes snake cake for child

Francesca Pitcher's snake cake [Photo: Courtesy]

-Adapted from Daily Mail

When Francesca Pitcher's reptile-mad daughter Claudia begged her for a spooky-themed birthday party, she knew exactly how to make the day extra ssspecial.

So the 37-year-old, from Maidstone, Kent, did what any mother would for their little girl... and decided to bake a birthday snake.

She spent three days whisking, beating and carving delicate sponge layers into a lifelike albino Burmese Python for the six-year-old's big day.

And when she finally brought out the white-chocolate masterpiece at the party, guests weren't sure if it was a snake or a cake.

Francesca, who bizarrely has a phobia of snakes, baked the equivalent of six sponge cakes before carving and sculpting them into the slinky appearance of the python, one of the most lethal non-venomous snakes in the world.

The 37-year-old spent a painstaking 12 hours decorating the unlikely birthday cake until it looked like a convincing albino Burmese python.

She used a white chocolate fondant and applied a special dye to make the skin and replicate the distinctive markings of the dangerous snake.

Despite its realistic appearance, Claudia and her 26 friends loved the cake and fought over who was going to eat the head.

But some of their parents were left 'freaked out' by it.

Mum-of-two Francesca, a professional cake-maker from Maidstone, Kent, said: 'I made the cake for my daughter's sixth birthday party.

'We had recently been to the zoo and I asked her what cake she wanted for her birthday, and suggested a snake, which I immediately regretted because I have a real phobia of them.

'But Claudia said she wanted it to scare her friends as it was going to be a spooky themed party.

'At first I couldn't even look at the images of them online but as I kept researching them I realised they weren't so bad and had quite beautiful patterns.

'Once I had got over my phobia I just cracked on with it, although before I put the skin on it looked really creepy.

'After I made him I had to keep him in a box and lock him away in a room, I just couldn't look at him.

'The children were fascinated by the cake and weren't scared at all, but their parents gave it a wide berth when they arrived and some of them were quite freaked out by it.

'But then they started taking pictures. I think some loved it and some hated it.

'Everyone has told me just how real it looks.'

Francesca, who runs her business North Star Cakes from her home, lives with husband Richard, two-year-old son Dylan and Claudia.

Burmese Pythons are among the most deadly snakes in the world and kill by asphyxiating their victims - and swallowing dead prey whole.

Although they are not considered a threat to humans, Burmese Pythons are vicious and can eat anything from birds to large mammals.

They come in various colours including black, brown, green and yellow and can grow to be 18 feet long and weigh more than 200 pounds.

Pythons are not venomous. Instead, they kill their prey by locking it in their jaws, which boast powerful, backward-facing teeth, then crushing it in their coils. They then swallow it whole.

They come in various colours including black, brown, green and yellow and can grow to be 18 feet long and weigh more than 200 pounds.

Pythons are not venomous. Instead, they kill their prey by locking it in their jaws, which boast powerful, backward-facing teeth, then crushing it in their coils. They then swallow it whole.