Shanghai:
A one-kilometre long cake achieved a new Guinness World Record in Shanghai on Thursday during a charity event to raise funds for children with cancer.
The world's longest ever Christmas cake, a 1,068 metre-long (3,504 foot) vanilla flavoured log with a bitter chocolate frosting, was created by 80 cooks from the five star Pudong Shangri-la Hotel.
Preparation took several days and the final set up involved 150 staff members working for 24 hours straight, with the cake placed on 156 tables lined up in the hotel lobby.
"We make the sponge, we bake and then, when it's cooled down, we make our vanilla cream, which is inside, we roll it up, and we make our very secret recipe of chocolate frosting," explained the hotel's pastry chef Yusuf Yaran.
"We put it all over the cake, and then we have our candy decorations and some icing sugar on the top," Yaran said.
The record-breaking recipe required 904 organic eggs, 1,045 kilograms (2,304 pounds) of wheat flour, 209 kilograms (461 pounds) of cane sugar, 633 litres (1,114 pints) of fresh cream, 401 kilograms (884 pounds) of bitter chocolate and 34 kilograms (75 pounds) of vanilla from Tahiti.
Ulrich Jablonka, executive chef at the hotel, said that the planning was the most arduous part of the process.
The previous record for a Christmas log cake was achieved by French chefs in Paris exactly a year ago, on December 1st, 2010, according to Guinness World Records.
It measured 207.8 metres (682 feet).
Chefs in Shanghai intended to make the cake stretch out for 888 metres (2,913 feet), so the announcement of the final length far exceeded expectations.
The cake was sliced immediately and sold to the public for 2 yuan (0.31 US dollars) per piece.
Proceeds from the sale of the cake will be used to support the medical needs of four children undergoing chemotherapy treatment in Shanghai.