An author is pleased with her fame on TV with her daughter's music artist-themed cake.

Hexham author Sarah Stovell was 'thrilled' with comments of Jo Brand, TV host of Channel 4's Extra Slice, where she sent in a picture of her daughter's 'Beatles on Abbey Road' 12th birthday cake.

Jo Brand said the cake was 'brilliantly captured in fondant' but it was tastier looking at rather it than tasting it - the author claims.

"It didn’t taste great, as I used mostly sugar paste - which is revolting, even for children but it was the most impressive-looking cake I’ve ever made, which is why I decided to send it to the show," laughs Sarah.

"I wasn’t that shocked when it was picked as I thought it was probably in with a reasonable chance because it’s such an iconic image and people love it."

Author of Mothernight, The Night Flower, and Other Parents, Sarah found herself unsure what to do in the second lockdown so felt baking would help her to relieve some stress.

"I’ve always enjoyed making cakes, but I started baking seriously during the second lockdown," she said.

"I had a deadline to meet, but I found writing in lockdown impossible. Additionally my attempts to home-school my children were disastrous and I gave up after the first twenty minutes on the first day.

"I then turned to baking for a creative outlet and an addiction.

"All through lockdown, I would try more and more ambitious things and my kitchen would be full of baklava, gateau and macarons, so I would take them to friends’ houses and leave them on their doorsteps, and it became a really nice way of keeping connected with people.

"For my daughter's birthday and she said, ‘I’d like the Abbey Road album cover on a cake - to which my first thought was, ‘Are you ** serious?’

"But then I studied the image and thought of the best way to do it, and I thought, ‘Well, it probably won’t taste great, but if I make a zebra crossing cake and sculpt the figures from fondant, that might look quite cool.’"

As a 'novice' baker, Sarah called upon her friend, Sarah Bingham, who had experience in baking and knew how to make sculptures.

"After the help, two days before my daughters birthday, I started the cake," Sarah adds

"It took about six hours and the cake part was simple. I then made John Lennon and other members all afternoon with my friend Naomi.

"When I stuck them to the cake with cocktail sticks, we were delighted with the result."