It is a plane … no, it is a cake!

BRITISH Airways and Comair celebrated their 20-year partnership on Friday with a four-metre-by-four-metre cake at OR Tambo International Airport.

The cake, engineered and assembled by Paul Vieira from Cake Extreme, was an ultra-realistic replica of a Boeing 737-800 and weighed about half a ton.

After the cake was cut by Vieira with a heavy heart, 5 000 slices were handed out to staff and visitors at the airport.

“The cake’s designation is ZS-ZWH, the same as the latest acquisition in Comair’s fleet upgrade programme, which is a sign of the airline’s confidence in the regional air-travel sector. The aircraft will arrive in a few weeks,” said Comair CEO, Erik Venter.

“That’s why we believe that our partnership with British Airways is worth celebrating and celebrating in style.”

The cake was complete with rotating turbines in the engines, wiring for navigation lights and in order to support the weight of the sponge cake, it had an internal frame made of metal and wood, all engineered by Vieira.

“I always dreamed of piloting an airliner, but making a cake that looks like one is not only hard work and immensely enjoyable, it’s also a reminder of just how much we rely on technology for many important aspects of our lives, like business,” said Vieira.

Vieira and his team also did the cockpit as it would be in the real aircraft and added two pilots.

The ingredients included 1 575 eggs (52.2kg), 90kg cake flour, 60kg white sugar, 4.5kg baking powder, 45 litres cooking oil, 30 litres water, 500ml vanilla essence, 30kg white margarine, 20kg icing sugar, 50kg butter cream and 80kg colour fondant to cover the entire cake.

“When we embarked on this journey with Comair 20 years ago, we had no idea how successful this franchise would be. It has been a tremendous 20 years and we can only hope for the next 20 years to be nearly as good,” added Sue Petrie, British Airways commercial manager.