Calgary Fairmont Palliser recreates massive cake for Alberta's 110th birthday
Let them eat cake. But not fruit cake.
Aside from the filling, this week the pastry team from Calgary's Fairmont Palliser recreated a massive birthday cake that the hotel made more than 80 years ago for Senator Patrick Burns.
"We've got photos back from 1931," said Craig Nazareth, Fairmont Palliser executive chef. "They found them at the Glenbow Museum."
They also dug up the original fruit cake recipe, but Nazareth opted to fill the two-metre tall treat with something more vanilla — vanilla raspberry sheet cake, to be exact.
The cake was made for a celebration of Alberta's 110th birthday Tuesday night.
On Sept. 1, 1905, the Canadian Parliament passed the Alberta Act, which created the province of Alberta from the former Northwest Territories.
The event was hosted by Fish Creek Restoration Society at The Ranche — the old headquarters for Senator Burns's cattle operation.
The senator's original birthday cake weighed about 1500 kg and fed 15,000 people.
"After Senator Burns's party at the Palliser the cake was then cut down into pieces, sent down to the Stampede grounds and fed families in need," said Nazareth.
Palliser staff did the same and delivered leftover cake Tuesday night to the Mustard Seed, an organization that helps adults living in poverty without homes.
