World's longest Christmas log

The world's longest ever Christmas log - measuring more than a kilometre long - has been created by 80 chefs in China. It took the chefs a full seven days to bake and sweeten the cake, which measured exactly 1,068 metres long, at the Pudong Shangri-la Hotel in Shanghai. They were only aiming for a 888 metre long cake - a lucky number in China - and it wasn't until it was rolled out that they realised the scale of their achievement. It was more than five times longer than the previous record holder - a comparatively modest 207 metre effort by French cooks. The Chinese Christmas log contained 904 organic eggs, 1045kg of flour, 209kg of sugar, 401kg of bitter chocolate and 34kg of Tahitian vanilla. Pastry chef Yusuf Yaran said: "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. "We put it all over the cake, and then we have our candy decorations and some icing sugar on the top." The final presentation saw 150 staff put the finished touches to the cake, helping to place it out on 156 tables during an intense 24-hour period. After celebrating their success, the hotel began to slice up the log to sell to the public, with all proceeds going to support children with cancer. ON

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