PARIS, FRANCE - - A towering cake vying to
be the world's biggest lasted one day outdoors in Paris, brought
down not by ravenous sweets lovers but a sweltering heatwave in the
French capital, organisers said Friday.
It seems the so-called "Tour sans Faim" (Tower without Hunger)",
standing 7.82 metres (25.7 feet) tall, had to be taken down because
it was starting to look more like the leaning Tower of Pisa.
A temperature of more than 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees
Fahrenheit) made the big pastry tower rather soft and unstable.
Chef Gilles Stassart and architect Jean Bocabeille brought
together a team of pastry chefs, architects, engineers and other
artistic specialists to build the huge cake, hoping to make the
Guinness Book of World Records.
It was unveiled Thursday at the Cite de l'Architecture et du
Patrimoine in Paris and was supposed to last four days.
Fortunately, a representative from the Guinness book was there to
record the short-lived creation.
It took 628 kilos (1,385 pounds) of flour, 508 kilos of sugar,
350 eggs, 18 kilos of butter to make the bricks of cake used to
build the pastry tower.
Actually, the huge cake is not edible and will be turned into
fertilizer.
Still, some pieces of the towering cake will be on display in an
exhibition at the architecture centre until Sunday.