Cape Town – It's the elephant in the room... and yes, it's edible.
Standing proud at the Good Food & Wine Show on at the CTICC from Friday, June 2 to Sunday, June 4, is a massive 1.2 ton elephant sculpted out of cake, created by Wellington-based chef Dot Klerck.
She was behind last year's rhino cake and upped the ante with her elephant cow with calf in tow, complete with tusks.
The cake took 1200 eggs, 90kg sugar, 35kg buttercream and 42kg chocolate and approximately 250 hours to make.
This year Klerck intends raising funds for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Elephant Project SA at the show.
"I first started drawing a detailed technical drawing of the elephant and then we started to construct it," Klerck said.
She is an expert at designing and creating unique cakes at her business Eat, Cake, Party which creates cool 3D cake designs.
Last year, she was nominated in Cake Master magazine for the Best Show Piece for her rhino display.
Klerck, who is passionate about wildlife, assembled the cake to both educate others on the plight of Africa's majestic giants and to indulge in her creativity.
"This is something extremely close to me, I want to really show people that these are beautiful creatures that we should take care of."
The gigantic cake is for sale and all proceeds go to IFAW.
Details on how to purchase the cake can be found at www.theelephantprojectsa.co.za