How long does it take to bake a cake? If the aim is to make one that would go down in the record books as the longest, it would take all day or more. For a party of 15 chefs and 10 assistants, it took roughly 9 hours (from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.) on December 20 to make what is claimed to be the longest decorative Christmas cake in India. The 441-foot long cake, created by Cake Point in association with Lions Club at CSI Church of the Good Shepherd on TTK Road, is targeted at the Limca Book of Records. The effort is recognised by the India Book of Records.
Around 1,000 economically disadvantaged people battling a variety of problems — including HIV positive children, cancer patients and inmates of old age homes and orphanages — got to take away and taste slices of the cake that ran into long rows, weighed roughly 1,300 kg, measured 11 inches in breadth and 3 inches in height. “Around 300 kg of the cake will be donated to inmates of Puzhal jail,” announced Porkai Pandian, managing director, Cake Point. “And, proceeds from sale of the remaining portion will go to support an orphanage.”
The cake bore the defining images of Christmas: reindeer, bells, gifts, Christmas trees and different versions of Santa Claus — lean, paunchy, rotund, long-nosed, star-faced, grinning, smiling, stern-faced and so on. Etching these clear-cut images against a fast-ticking clock was one of the challenges, explained Pandian.
Efforts to make cakes that stand out for their lengths are not new. Every year, mostly around Christmas time, such attempts are reported from various parts of the world. In 2011, around 80 chefs in China slogged for seven days and created a Christmas cake that was 1,068 metres long!
