A woman made her GP sister a “hilarious” stool chart cake – after spotting the poo scale in her bathroom.
Denise Cox, 52, thought it would be “a laugh” to bake the fun cake for her sister Pippa’s 50th birthday. The Bristol stool scale is used to describe the shapes and types of stools and helps diagnose constipation, diarrhoea and irritable bowel syndrome.
Denise made the chocolate cake with her husband, David Monk, 68, a retired civil engineer - topping it with white icing, editable text and decorating the types of poo with chocolate bars. Pippa - who used to have the stool chart in her toilet - found it “hilarious” and “laughed her head off”.
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Denise posted the cake on her Facebook page and was shocked by the response -with many other doctors and nurses appreciating the cake. She now hopes it can help raise awareness and stop the “shame” of talking about poo.
Denise, owner of Tapestry Cakes, from Watford, Hertfordshire, said: “They used to have the stool chart in the loo – as you do as a doctor. It used to make me smile.
“We made this as a surprise. Both my sister and my brother-in-law are GPs and have worked their socks off, especially the past few years, so deserve nice surprises.
“I've been wanting to do a cake version of the Bristol stool scale for years. I did it for fun - for a giggle for my sister.”
Denise made the cake in June 2023 using an edible print to create the chart. She decorated using Maltesers, a Lion bar, a Boost, a Ripple, chocolate raisins, a Flake and chocolate sauce.
Denise said the cake went down a treat with her sister She said: “She took a sneak peek and came out laughing her head off.
“So many people use the stool chart. I hope more people talk about this better.”
Denise has had 43k likes and 8.5k comments on her post. One commenter said: “Working for the NHS myself and I can fully appreciate this cake.”
Another said it was the most “brilliant” cake they had seen. Denise is now offering print outs of the edible chart – and will put any money made from selling them towards charity Bowelbabe.
She said: “There is no shame in talking about poo. I’d love to raise awareness.”
Dr Ken Heaton from the University of Bristol was behind our city's famous stool guide, which was first published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology in 1997. The guide details seven different types of stool.
Types 3 and 4 are considered to be healthy.
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