Behold the Life-sized Downton Abbey Dowager Countess Cake

Featured on Laughing Squid, the cake is pretty impressive, even by extreme cake decorating standards. Here’s everything you need to know about the awesomeness behind this cake, via Georgia Public Broadcasting:

It took cake and chocolate artist Karen Portaleo 18 hours to create this custom made Dowager Countess cake for GPB’s season five premiere party for Downton Abbey. It is made with vanilla and buttercream and soaked in earl grey tea. Visit gpb.org/downton for more information.

Here’s a more detailed look, courtesy of Portaleo’s website, which has more images of her astounding work on this cake:

This cake almost comes close to capturing the perfectly sublime resting bitch face of the actual Maggie Smith.

Image via Karen Portaleo.