WEATHERFORD, Texas — Peach weekend in Parker County was sparked by a historic feat: breaking the record for making the world’s largest peach cake.
Community members of all ages pitched in to help stack concrete blocks and mix more than 6,700 pounds of ingredients into pots built by Weatherford agricultural and mechanical engineering students.
“It’s a lot of fun to watch, it brings together a wide range of age groups,” Weatherford Chamber of Commerce President Tammy Gazzola said, “…You have little kids helping put ingredients in the oven and high school students assembling the pans.”
“We had an 80-year-old man call us and ask if he wanted to come and participate.”
The recipe was created by Weatherford chef Candace Lambdin, who adapted a 9-by-13-inch skillet that was lined with cinder blocks and placed on top of a propane gas heater.
“600 pounds of butter, 1,000 pounds of flour, 1,500 pounds of sugar, 1,300 pounds of peaches and only 110 pounds of baking powder,” Lambdin told volunteers as he led them around the giant pots.
The finished product, which weighed just under 5,800 pounds as of a morning two weeks ago, was scheduled to be distributed at the 39th annual Parker County Peach Festival, but organizers opted not to offer it, citing an inability to maintain a food-safe temperature for the duration of the festival.
Smith said the unused products were donated to local food banks, the used products were donated to animals and the giant frying pan was returned to the high school for use in a future project.
But Parker County may have to wait for official recognition from the Guinness World Records, which lists a 2,251-pound cobbler as the world’s largest, which was created by the Hampton Inn in Ruston for the 65th annual Louisiana Peach Festival in 2015 and contained 819 pounds of peaches, 312 pounds of butter and 343 pounds of flour.
Gazzola credited chamber of commerce members, city council members and local business owner Zach Smith, whom he calls the “logistics king,” for working to make the idea a reality.
“He knew exactly what materials were needed, down to the concrete blocks, and he had figured out how to build it,” she said.
Smith said bringing the community together is a big part of the mission.
“We had the Chamber of Commerce, young business leaders, business leaders from around town,” he said. “This is an opportunity to bring us together in a time that’s kind of divisive. We’re all united, it doesn’t matter what age you are, what socioeconomic status you have. We’re all part of something that’s going to be talked about for generations to come.”
