Hopes high for a world record

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Finally, the giant strawberry cake.

This capital town unveiled yesterday its Guinness wannabe: a strawberry butter cake measuring 3.73 meters long, 2.63 meters wide and 2.55 meters high, weighing 9,642.45 kilograms and with a volume of 15.23 cubic meters.

Yesterday’s feat was actually La Trinidad’s third attempt to cop a world record for the biggest strawberry cake. This time though, local officials are optimistic.

Especially so when food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. has thrown its support behind the record attempt, shouldering the expenses for the ingredients and tapping the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers and the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants to get the cake’s measurements.

The Department of Science and Technology, for its part, supervised the nutritional content of the giant cake. The Department of Tourism also contributed to the expenditure.

A beaming Mayor Nestor Fongwan said a Guinness record would put La Trinidad, considered the country’s strawberry and cutflower capital some five kilometers north of Baguio City, in the world map.

The Guinness Book of World Records does not have an entry for strawberry butter cakes, but organizers said they would seek a new category for their massive creation.

Plant City in Florida, USA holds the Guinness record for the biggest strawberry short cake, which is harder than a butter cake.

"We are applying for a new category and hopes are really high that we’ll (get it)," said Alex Castro, who belongs to an agency which San Miguel Corp. has commissioned to prepare and submit the documentation to Guinness.

"We hope that the documentation will be sent for certification very soon since thousands of entries arrive at the research section of Guinness yearly," he added. About 60,000 entries are reportedly sent to Guinness every year.