TALENTED teenager Alana Ledwith won a top award at the world’s biggest sugarcraft and cake decorating competition.

The 14-year-old came second in the novelty birthday cake category for 13 to 16-year-olds at the Cake International event at Manchester.

The sugarcraft, cake decorating and baking show was held at EventCity at the weekend, and Alana won £50 in cash, a rosette and certificate for her cake, which she made and decorated.

Her cake shows a snorkeler peering at the underwater life, being watched by a curious seagull nesting on a nearby rock, and the cake is edged by colourful coral and plants.

Cake International attracts cake enthusiasts, industry experts and professional cake decorators and sugarcrafters from across the world.

Alana, from Lower Peover, is a student at The Grange Senior School in Hartford, and her success was the icing on the cake for the teenager, who celebrated her 14th birthday on Friday.

She is going to use cake decorating for the skill section for her bronze Duke of Edinburgh award, and her dad Bruce is to raffle off her cake at his business in Cumbria to support an African schools project The Grange is involved in.

Alana’s 16-year-old sister Ellie is part of a group of students from the school travelling to The Gambia this week for a five-day visit.

“The cake was all Alana’s own work, and has an underwater theme,” said Alana’s mum Janice.

“It has a snorkeler on the top, whose flippers you can see coming out of the water, and she thought it would be fun and colourful.

“She is very creative, and was thrilled to win a gold award for her entry, which was a fruit cake with fondant decoration and took her a week to make.”

Janice is well known for her cake-making and decorating skills, having made a personalised cake for Alana and Ellie’s birthdays every year since they were born.

The Project Gambia was initiated in 1988 by members of The Grange School staff, and the school has been supporting the development of education in the Gambian town of Brikama.

The project has supported the development of the Kunta Kinteh School, and, more recently, the setting up of the Darul Akram School for seven to 11-year-olds.

Students travel to The Gambia to help with the development of the schools, and pupils were recently involved with the building and furnishing of a classroom block.