Qzina builds world’s largest chocolate sculpture

May 16, 2012, Irvine, Calif. – Qzina Specialty Foods has broken a
Guinness World Record for building the largest chocolate sculpture.

May 16, 2012, Irvine, Calif. – Qzina Specialty Foods has broken a Guinness World Record for building the largest chocolate sculpture. The sculpture models an ancient Mayan temple and weighs 18,239 pounds, far surpassing the previous record set in Italy in 2010 by more than 7,500 pounds.
 
Qzina chose the Mayan theme because of the crucial role the culture played in the origins of chocolate. Francois Mellet, Qzina’s corporate pastry chef, was the lead architect on this massive project, and Stephane Treand, best craftsman in France, lent his artistic touch to the sculpture’s intricate design elements. Mellet and his team, spent more than 400 hours constructing this magnificent structure of solid chocolate that was created using an assortment of Qzina’s chocolate brands.
 
"We studied Mayan pyramids at great lengths to create an exact replica of the Temple of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza to honor the original chocolatiers," says Richard Foley, founder and CEO of Qzina. Built proportionally to the ancient temple’s true size, the solid chocolate pyramid is six feet tall and its base measures 10 feet by 10 feet. The sculpture’s base alone weighs more than 3,000 pounds.
 
The chocolate pyramid will be displayed at the Qzina Institute of Chocolate & Pastry in Irvine, Calif., and will be available to view beginning June 4 when the institute and product showroom is officially open to the public. Qzina plans to destroy the chocolate sculpture on December 21, 2012 when the Mayan calendar comes to an end.  To see pictures of the world’s largest chocolate sculpture, visit the Qzina image gallery.