Ashley who owns and runs Ye Old Sun Inn at Colton near York with his wife Kelly, was asked to make the tasty piece for a surprise party for close friend Timothy Bilton who is suffering with stage 4 cancer – Tim’s idol is of course the king of rock and roll.
Ashley had just one week to complete the nearly five foot centre piece ready for the reveal at the celebration party on 1st September. Once the wooden skeleton of Elvis was made, the body was formed with a mixture of marshmallows and crisped rice to keep the structure light, then using over 45kg of the finest Belgian white, dark and milk chocolate the sculpture took on the shape and characteristics of Elvis in his iconic white Las Vegas jumpsuit. The finished sculpture weighed in at a whopping 65kg once finished and had to be transported to the event in a horse box due to the size and weight.
The process of making Elvis was also captured on camera and will be shown on the next series of channel 5’s ‘The Wonderful World of Chocolate’ later in the year. Ashley was recently featured on the Channel 4 series ‘Extreme Chocolate Makers’ which followed chocolatiers making various sculptures from the drawing board to the delivery of each piece.
Ashley commented ‘This has to be the biggest piece I’ve ever created, and to have just a week to complete it has been a major challenge, but one that I relished!’ After the reveal Tim added ‘This is truly a work of genius, for once I’m totally speechless with amazement!’ Previous sculptures have included Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a 3D interactive version of a York Monopoly board and many more over the years for businesses and local charities.
