--- description: She’s like a mini Madame Tussauds figure made with cake batter! The Dowager Countess, the acerbic grand dame played by Maggie Smith on Masterpiece Theater’s... title: See Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess Recreated as a Cake image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt111ea8440c264296/69877866cd1bba95286f47c1/dowager-countess-cake.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See _Downton Abbey_’s Dowager Countess Recreated as a Cake by [Nancy Mattia / People](/author/people/) ## Nancy Mattia / People Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 6, 2015 7:17 PM CUT  From left: Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey; Dowager Countess cake by Karen Portaleo From left: Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey; Dowager Countess cake by Karen PortaleoMasterpiece/PBS; Karen Portaleo by [Nancy Mattia / People](/author/people/) ## Nancy Mattia / People Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 6, 2015 7:17 PM CUT She’s like a mini Madame Tussauds figure made with cake batter! The Dowager Countess, the acerbic grand dame played by Maggie Smith on Masterpiece Theater’s _Downton Abbey_, was recently reborn as a life-like dessert for a season five premiere event at the Fox Theater in Atlanta. The so-real-it’s-spooky bust, which featured the character in a purple coat, elaborate hat and elegant jewels, was made by a local baker and chocolate artist, [Karen Portaleo](http://www.karenportaleo.com/#/new-gallery-1/ "undefined"), who spent 18 hours fashioning vanilla cake and buttercream, with an Earl Grey tea soak, into the over-the-top confection. In a two-minute video made by the event’s host, Georgia Public Broadcasting, Portaleo can be seen creating her work of art while actual scenes from the period drama are spliced in to make it seem like the characters are commenting on the cake. No word on what Smith thinks of her sugary likeness but the show’s consultant, Alastair Bruce, attended the Atlanta premiere and made an observant comment. “He said the cake is so very American, which I thought was hysterical,” Portaleo told [Today.com](http://www.today.com/popculture/downton-abbeys-dowager-countess-takes-cake-sweet-recreation-1D80400276 "undefined"). “It is very American to create a human out of cake.” Consider it the sweetest tribute of all. [_This article originally appeared on People.com_](http://greatideas.people.com/2015/01/05/downton-abbey-maggie-smith-dowager-cake/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3656202/dowager-countess-cake/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3656202/dowager-countess-cake/"},"headline":"See Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess Recreated as a Cake","datePublished":"2015-01-06T19:17:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:20:05.811Z","description":"She’s like a mini Madame Tussauds figure made with cake batter! The Dowager Countess, the acerbic grand dame played by Maggie Smith on Masterpiece Theater’s...","url":"https://time.com/3656202/dowager-countess-cake/","keywords":["Television","downton abbey"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt111ea8440c264296/69877866cd1bba95286f47c1/dowager-countess-cake.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nancy Mattia / People"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt111ea8440c264296/69877866cd1bba95286f47c1/dowager-countess-cake.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"dowager-countess-cake","caption":"From left: Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey; Dowager Countess cake by Karen Portaleo","creditText":"Masterpiece/PBS; Karen Portaleo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3656202/dowager-countess-cake/","name":"See Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess Recreated as a Cake"}}]}] ```