Earlier this year, we posted a picture of a Dalmatian puppy cake to the Renshaw Facebook page, which generated over 50,000 shares and added 4,000 organic ‘likes’ to the account.

Knowing the value of original, brand-owned content, we wanted to reclaim the public’s appetite for cake creativity. Capitalising on the festive news season during a pivotal calendar period for baking manufacturers like Renshaw, we worked with the creator of the viral Dalmatian, Trish Clarke, to create a Christmas cake with a difference.

Made to look exactly like a traditional Christmas dinner with all of the timings, the Renshaw Turkey Cake was born.  Weighing in at 10kg, every part of the creation was edible – from the marzipan sprouts to the Renshaw Ready to Roll cranberry sauce pot and spoon.

Though the cake looked completely realistic on raw smartphone photography, we knew that putting it into context would provide the impact and assets required for a national picture splash. Setting up a realistic family dinner scene, picture editors couldn’t fail to raise a smile for our snaps and an extensive sell-in secured branded coverage in the world’s largest free paper, the Metro.

A hit with all of the client’s target media sectors, the Turkey Cake was considered for guest appearances on a number of primetime TV shows. Such was the demand that a second cake was needed (the week before Christmas!) to make a special, live appearance on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch and was enjoyed by guest celebrities, including Girls Aloud’s Kimberley Walsh.

The creative tactic worked and presenters name-checked the brand on-air, with the team tweeting info containing links back to the Renshaw Baking website alongside the broadcast.

After carving out the opportunities in the national press, the story was also picked up by the client’s core trade media. Regional pieces were also secured profiling the Liverpool-based business and Leicester-based bakers’ talents.

Turkey cake in numbers:

22 – The weight in lbs that the turkey cake tips the scales at

Seven – The number of days taken to create the big bird

15 – Kilograms of Renshaw Ready to Roll icing and marzipan used

Two – Number of birds made to send to broadcast producers across UK

500 – Turkey miles travelled to national broadcast appearances

One  – Talented Trish Clarke to make the cake

500,000 – number of viewers who watched the Turkey Cake live on Sunday Brunch

1,300,000 – commuters who picked up a Metro the day the story broke

117,300 – Followers Sunday Brunch tweeted a picture of the Turkey Cake to

5 happy Rule5 members

To learn more about what went into the making of the Turkey Cake, visit the blog here.