'Pinup' baker with gothic tastes is Instagrammer du jour

It takes creativity, a flair for the macabre and great hair to be able to stand out from the hundreds of thousands of Instagrammers in the virtual world. But Los Angeles-based beauty Christine McConnell manages to do just that with photos that juxtapose the perfect 1950s-style homemaker with whimsically terrifying baked goods.

Or, as Buzzfeed calls her, a woman who looks like a pinup, but bakes like Tim Burton.

Culinary creations include a waffle cone gone awry, with mutant strawberries bearing icing fangs and Tootsie-roll like tentacles, and a fairytale apple pie made to look like a tree of life with crushed pecans and salted caramel.

A mystical chocolate cake is embellished with an unidentifiable skull, while another pastry creation is an eerily realistic-looking facehugger mask from the sci-fi horror film series “Alien.”

Throw in a tall, svelte and leggy brunette who looks equally good in 1950s vintage-style June Cleaver-type frocks and bikinis with an appetite for the macabre, and you get a series of strange and fascinating photos which also happen to be highly stylized and beautifully shot.

McConnell, who by day is a professional hair and makeup stylist and photographer, has succeeded in building her Instagram fan base to more than 99,100 followers in the last few days since the internet got wind of her shtick.

Take a whirl at http://instagram.com/christinehmcconnell