(CNN) — A New Zealand comedian’s attempt to bake a cake in the image of her hero went appallingly wrong, prompting her to issue a public apology.

Laura Daniel said she was “deeply sorry” about the depiction of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Daniel’s Instagram post attracted hundreds of comments expressing amusement or terror or — from Ardern herself — the flushed-face emoji.

The disaster was the result of a challenge between Daniel and TV presenter Hilary Barry to make a cake without flour, which has been in short supply during New Zealand’s strict coronavirus lockdown.

For the base, Daniel used the New Zealand concoction known as “lolly cake,” in which crumbled cookies are mixed with melted butter and condensed milk. She molded it into a head, slathered it with gloppy off-white frosting and added stringy black hair, eyes, lips and — horrifyingly — what appeared to be real human teeth.

Barry’s meringue-based volcano, on the other hand, was unlikely to give anyone nightmares.

Daniel later noted that the teeth were prosthetics she had worn while playing Ardern in comedy sketches.

Ardern has been widely praised for her leadership during the coronavirus crisis. She shut the country’s borders to foreign visitors on March 19 and announced a four-week lockdown on March 23, requiring all non-essential workers to stay at home except for grocery shopping or exercising nearby.

The mother of a 22-month-old girl, Ardern issued an announcement declaring the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy “essential workers.”

The country has carried out widespread testing and has recorded 1,401 coronavirus cases and nine deaths, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

On Wednesday, Ardern said that she and her cabinet would take a 20% pay cut for the next six months because of the pandemic.

The-CNN-Wire
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