Cake artist creates life-size Thriller tribute to Michael Jackson on Halloween

A cake artist has thrilled Michael Jackson fans on Halloween after unveiling an edible six-feet-tall creation celebrating one of his most famous looks.

Emma Jayne Morris, 55, from South Wales, has spent six weeks making the intricate piece, which faithfully recreates the King of Pop’s get-up from the spooky 1983 smash hit – from his curls right down to his shoes – for the Cake International show at the NEC, which started on Friday and showcases the biggest and best of the baking world.

Mother-of-three Emma Jayne, who has previously created life-size cake figures such as the King in 2023, the year of his coronation, and Queen Elizabeth I in 2024, decided to mark the cake exhibition’s Halloween start date by recreating the pop star’s famous look from the horror-themed music video.

She said: “We’ve all grown up with the King of Pop and I thought it was just a lovely thing to do, and especially falling on Halloween. The first day of the show is Halloween, and we’ve chosen the Thriller era, so everything just seemed to fit in.

“It has an international appeal as well – most people that have walked up to us today have said, ‘oh, we love him’. It was a no brainer.

“My husband Owain and I are dressed up as zombies, so we look totally ridiculous next to him, but we tried to get into the feel of it.

“I’ve been just walking back and forth, and all you can hear is people saying ‘Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson’. So it’s definitely making an impact, and that goes a long way.”

The huge creation made the three-hour journey from her studio in Aberdare to Birmingham for the show, and Emma Jayne also created tombstones to showcase in her booth alongside Jackson to create an eerie atmosphere.

His head, which took Emma Jayne a week to put together as she painstakingly recreated his likeness, is made of Rice Krispies, modelling chocolate and sugar paste.

Emma Jayne said she was thrilled that he made it to the show in one piece after a six-week process from research and planning to the final finish.

She said: “I made his head separately to the body, so the head we took off to travel with and it went on a board so it was quite safe.

“The body, we had to hire a big van with a tail lift, and it travelled on its back lying down because even though it’s got an armature – a framework in it – it wouldn’t take the rocking to get here.

“It got here really, really well. I just had a little bit of damage on the back of the lapel, but other than that he got here perfectly.”

She added: “There’s a lot of work and effort and planning that goes into every feature that we do.

“I just took my time with it – the head is the most important part because you’ve got to get the likeness of the person.

“It may not be 100% on but the likeness is there with it, and then when you put it on the body, with the clothing, the red and everything else that goes with it, it just adds to the full likeness of him.”

While Emma Jayne does not usually bring her huge creations home with her, she has made an exception for the King of Pop, who will be returning back to Wales with her after the show.

Emma Jayne, who has a background as a portrait artist and said art has been “in my blood since I was born”, said she stumbled into cake making after husband Owain complained about her buying too many cakes for their children around 14 years ago.

She said: “I said fine, I’ll make one myself. And for me, it was art using a different medium – that’s all it was, from the first cake that I made.

“I just loved it, learning about the mediums, learning about what sugar could do, what chocolate could do.”

After starting out baking cakes for family and friends, Cake International helped introduce Emma Jayne to people from all over the world who asked her to teach, so she ended up travelling the globe passing on her expertise.

She said: “You wouldn’t think just from making a cake that your career would go off in that direction. It’s crazy.”

Cake International runs at the NEC in Birmingham until Sunday.