In an extraordinary feat of culinary coordination, pastry chefs in France on Wednesday completed what they claimed to be the world’s longest strawberry cake—measuring an astonishing 121.8 metres—in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil.
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, Paris-based pastry chef Youssef El Gatou assembled a team of 20 chefs to create the 1.2-tonne masterpiece. The cake took one week to complete and was presented across tables set within an ice rink, where residents gathered to view the massive creation.
The strawberry cake surpassed the previous world record of 100.48 metres set in 2019 in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese.
El Gatou’s creation involved the use of 350 kilograms of strawberries, 150 kilograms of sugar, and 415 kilograms of cream. To meet the requirements for entry into the Guinness Book of Records, the cake had to measure at least eight centimetres in width and eight centimetres in height.
According to Nadia El Gatou, the chef’s wife, the team encountered significant logistical challenges. “We used blowtorches to heat the bowl for the cream mix,” she said.
El Gatou said that his desire to set a world record had originated in childhood. “I was looking for a product, or a French pastry, and I also wanted to highlight farm produce, so French strawberries and products like milk, cream and butter,” he told the foreign news agency.
Residents of Argenteuil who witnessed the record-setting dessert on Wednesday were each offered a piece to take home.
