BACKGROUND TO THE EVENT
Three years prior to the inaugural 2007 “Melbourne’s Longest Cake” event, the then President of the Cerebral Palsy Support Network - Christian Astourian, had a dream of putting Cerebral Palsy in the minds of the public by baking The World’s Longest Cake. Unfortunately, this World record was broken overseas by a sheik who set the record at 2.6km long! This did not deter Christian.  

He kept talking about baking an enormous cake to raise awareness of Cerebral Palsy and engage the community. Deciding to approach organizations who could possibly assist with this vision, Christian consulted with Walter Wagner, Executive Manager Food and Beverage at Crown. Walter could see a way forward - he suggested a cake that was as long as its sponsorship would allow, could be made. The wheels were set in motion to pull the resources and logistics together to make Christian’s dream a reality. – he proudly attended on the day to see that vision realised.
 
The Cerebral Palsy Support Network’s committee members undertook to see the project through and set a date for the event in March 2007. Once plans for Melbourne’s Longest Cake were underway, famed Australian rock icon Jimmy Barnes was approached to help promote it. Because Jimmy’s daughter, Elly-May was born with Cerebral Palsy, he agreed that the event was a fantastic idea to raise awareness and much needed funds for Cerebral Palsy, and was happy to put his name to it.
 
Christian Astourian proudly attended on the day of the event to see his vision realised. Thanks to the generous sponsors, the support of the public, the efforts of volunteers and the dedicated hours of individuals working together with a common aim, this ambitious idea became a sweet success story.

THE EVENT
The inaugural Melbourne’s Longest Cake event was held on Sunday 25th March 2007 as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. On this perfect, sunny Sunday morning, the Crown Promenade was a hive of activity.
 
Crown chefs had earlier prepared and baked the industrial-sized delicious carrot cake recipe, which was now ready for piece by piece assembly, icing and decoration…
 
At 7am, 150 apprentice chefs and cookery students gathered from Box Hill Institute, Chisolm Institute, Swinburne TAFE and the Australian Defence Force in Ballarat. Their mission was to assemble and decorate a cake which would match no other cake in length, ever baked in Melbourne! It would eventually span the whole of the Crown Promenade, reaching 100 metres in total.
 
As people began to arrive, the apprentices were busy decorating the cake with a cream cheese icing, and everybody’s favourite lollies - there were lots of jellybeans, chocolate freckles and smarties spread all over the cake!
 
White chocolate plaques, with corporate sponsor logos printed on them, were placed along the cake at metre intervals – to show the public which companies had been generous enough to sponsor the event.
 
A huge crowd descended on the Promenade… lots of families out for a day with their kids, inquisitive tourists, young couples out for breakfast. Everyone wanted to know what the cake and kafuffle was all about.
 
The anticipation was mounting around 9am, as the cake decorating neared completion and the celebrities began to arrive.
 
First on the scene were Robert “Dipper” Dipierdemenico, Billy Brownless and Anthony Koutafides all ready to lend a hand. Next to arrive were Amy and Nikki from Quizmania, and Sianoa Smit-McPhee (Bree Timmins) from Neighbours, who were really excited to help serve the cake!
 
From the Professional Championship of Wrestling, Red Raven and Pitbull came along to talk to the kids and show some of their special moves off.
 
At 10 am, the MC for the event Shaun Micallef, pulled the whole show together, and called for the first slice of cake to be cut.
 
All of the personalities, cake ambassadors, and visitors to the event, gathered around to witness this moment in history!!!
 
Crown provided the biggest knife in the kitchen, which allowed everyone to put all hands on deck! This was a symbol of the community uniting together to support people with Cerebral Palsy.
 
The cake had been cut, and now it was time to eat the cake that had generously been baked by Crown. People were able to buy a slice of cake, which came with a complementary hot or cold refreshment from Nestle and San Pellegrino.
 
Shaun Micallef, also kicked off the entertainment by introducing the Glenroy Special School band who performed “Hey Baby” and their own version of “Catch My Disease”. An appreciative crowd was entertained over the next two hours by Kia Luby, Charmz, Gerry Smith, Annabelle Priftis, Chloe Hall, James Hazeldon and Rebecca Barnard.
 
At the end of the day, to ensure that the left over cake wasn’t wasted, Second Bite came along to take the rest of it and deliver it to food banks around Melbourne. In this way, the cake was able to keep on giving to the community.
 
 
AFTER THE EVENT
And what a success it was, raising $58,000 for the Cerebral Palsy Support Network in prepaid sponsorship and cake sales on the day. This high profile event, attracting wide television and press media coverage, also ensured people learnt a lot more about Cerebral Palsy and how it affects one in every 200 live births.
 
Crown was so impressed with the success of this debut that they wholeheartedly agreed to make the next “Melbourne’s Longest Cake” and host it as an annual event.
 
The CPSN is now preparing for Melbourne’s Longest Cake in 2008, with the goal of doubling its length.

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