World's Largest Cream Puff

A week ago on Friday morning, the images from opening day of the Wisconsin State Fair were ugly - fights and beatings, police squads with lights flashing, bruised faces.

Today, there's news from the Fair that's more in line with what we've come to expect from this beloved Wisconsin institution - a celebration of the iconic State Fair cream puff.



From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Team Cream Puff, led by David "Puff Daddy" Schmidt of the Wisconsin Bakers Association, crafted a 125.6-pound cream puff Thursday at the Wisconsin State Fair, and quickly had it certified by Guinness World Records as the world's largest.

It is a record that had never been set before, but now it's the new standard for puffery. And they have the commemorative plaque to prove it.

The slab of cream, sandwiched between two shells, was carefully measured out at 71/2 inches high and 38 inches wide. The giant cream puff had to be baked in a deck oven - much larger than the ones used to make the fair's trademark cream puffs - for 6½ hours.

"It took a lot of patience," said Tom Barger, assistant manager of the Original Cream Puff Bakery at the fair. "I am relieved that we did it and that it actually worked."

Presiding at Thursday's weigh-in was Danny Girton Jr., the corporate adjudications manager for Guinness World Records. Girton noted that 97% of attempts to set a world record - even ones that are the first time - prove unsuccessful. He said the fair's record cream puff would be included in the 2013 edition of the book.

Since this was the first time, it was decided that the cream puff had to weigh at least 50 pounds to be considered for the record.

"It is three times bigger than the minimum requirement. . . . We blew it out of the water," Schmidt said. "There was a lot of pressure to do this and do this right."

Schmidt noted that the 15.5 gallons of cream used in making the final puff were nothing compared to the 10,000 gallons used during the 11-day fair.

"The size is a reflection of how important it is to the fair," said Susan Crane, one of the bakers assembling the final product on stage. "It is important a record like this was broken in Dairyland."

This is among the many wonderful moments of the 2011 Wisconsin State Fair.

The creation of the world's largest cream puff will be a sweet memory.