It certainly looks good enough to eat, and it's the latest donation to our Hospice 2000 appeal - a special "edible cheque".

The cake was presented to patients and staff at St Leonard's Hospice by the chefs from the Rose and Crown Restaurant, Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York.

It accompanied a donation of £2,000 made to the appeal by the new owners of the restaurant.

They pledged to give £1 for every meal eaten there in the first two months of the year.

Ralph Magee, restaurant director, said: "We thought that hospice patients should have the opportunity of sampling the skills of our talented chefs - we owe nearly all our success to their inspired creations."

The three-layered cake, made with 40 eggs, two kilos of Belgian chocolate and two litres of double cream, was presented to day-care patients and then shared with the rest of the York hospice patients and staff.

Sue Spence, hospice clinical care services manager, said the donation would go towards the goal of raising £2 million for the redevelopment of the Tadcaster Road, York, hospice.