A team of 15 pastry chefs representing the World Federation of Restaurant Sports (WFRS) from Tajikistan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan have set a new world record in Dushanbe by creating a 200 kg cake, standing 2.10 meters tall. TASS says tThis achievement was recorded by the Eurasian Rating Agency (ERA) in the category of "Tallest Cake in National Theme" at Dushanbe’s Firdavsi Park on October 20.
Before being presented to the public, the record-breaking cake was transported from a restaurant on the back of a truck. The 1.7 km journey to the park's main entrance took approximately 15 minutes. Once there, it took a few more minutes to set up the cake on a table.
A 45 cm tall sugary replica of the monument to Ismoil Somoni, the founder of the first Tajik state, was placed atop the cake on a rotating platform.
The cake featured several tiers, narrowing toward the top. Its square base, measuring 1.1 meters on each side, was decorated with 20 gingerbread figures representing Tajikistan’s landmarks. Two additional circular tiers adorned with national patterns were placed above, along with over 300 marshmallow elements shaped like watermelons, melons, grapes, and other fruits cultivated in Tajikistan.
It took the chefs four days to complete the cake. According to head pastry chef Natali Vee, 160 eggs, 25 kg of sugar, about 45 kg of fondant, a few kilograms of flour for the marshmallows, around 30 liters of juice, and various other ingredients in quantities ranging from 1 to 9 kg were used. She noted that the cake could feed between 100 and 200 people.
Alexander Rabinovich, chairman of the ERA’s service and hospitality committee and general secretary of the WFRS, stated that the event was tied to both World Chef Day and Tajikistan's national harvest festival, Mehrgon, celebrated on October 20.
Rabinovich also mentioned that the team has previously set records in Russia (with the "Pushkin's Tales" cake), Africa, and Europe, but this was the first such record in Tajikistan.