A baker's special homage to Indigenous culture has scooped the pool in a major Victorian competition.
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Titled Medika, the life-like cake dominated awards in the Cake Bake and Sweets Show in Melbourne.
NSW-Victorian border-based baker Ashini Wijayaneththi, from West Wodonga, wanted to replicate an Indigenous girl to coincide with NAIDOC Week this year.
"I took my inspiration from the oldest culture on earth - Indigenous Australians," she said.
"The Aboriginal story The Lost Girl inspired me to dig deeper into Indigenous teaching about nature; they loved nature and there was a saying that everyone is a part of nature and if we protect nature then mother nature protects us."
Medika, meaning "flower", was made from chocolate mud cake, hand-carved and sculpted with different mediums and techniques.
Ms Wijayaneththi said the cake took between 50 and 60 hours over four days last week.
It was first in the Sculpted Aussie Novelty category, second overall from five categories and was the People's Choice winner.
"I was blown away when they called my name three times!" Ms Wijayaneththi said.
"The People's Choice Award was such a thrill; it was very unexpected."
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Organised by the Australian Cake Decorating Network, the Cake Bake and Sweets Show last ran in Melbourne during 2019.
Medika was only Ms Wijayaneththi's second entry in the show.
Her first entry, Andy and Chico, a firefighter and koala, won the novice section in the Art of Cake in 2019. It was inspired by the 2019-2020 Summer Bushfire Crisis.
Sri Lankan-born, Ms Wijayaneththi moved to Wodonga with her husband in late 2012 to work on The Border Mail.
A graphic designer by trade, she founded Cherry on Top Cakes in 2018.
