9 Record-Breaking Dishes Slideshow

The Passion for Sweet bakery in Boca Raton, Fla., broke the world's record for the largest cupcake when they lathered the frosting and handmade 5-inch sprinkles on a 1,316-pound pink treat. Part of a Think Pink Rocks breast cancer fundraiser, the chocolate cupcake was 4 ½ feet high, 6 feet wide, and featured a 12-inch round cherry on top.

Gyros are, in the Greek port of Patras (where the record was broken) and around the world, loved and oft-imitated. But few (if any) could imitate restaurant-owner Costas Dasios' record-breaking gyro that weighed in at 4,079 pounds and was cooked on a 5 ½-foot skewer. Using 330 pounds of spices and 220 pounds of salt, the kebabs were ready by early evening, when the city's poor were the first to get a taste.

A mere three months ago, The Wensleydale Heifer, a pub in Yorkshire, broke the record for the largest order of fish 'n chips ever. Previously held by a restaurant in Boston, the classic British dish weighed in at 101 pounds, using 200 liters of vegetable oil, which took seven hours to heat up. Per tradition, the meal was served with fries (57 pounds, 7 ounces worth) and a vat of peas. Two hundred and fifty diners partook in the meal and gave donations for a local charity.

America is known for gigantic portions, but none as shockingly large as a 15-foot bowl of pasta weighing in at 13,786 pounds. Employees from Buca di Beppo in Anaheim, Calif., used more than 100 gallons of marinara sauce and hundreds of meatballs to put together the record-breaking dish. To celebrate their achievement, the restaurant donated more than 10,000 pounds of uncooked pasta to various homeless charities.

Chefs in Lebanon banded together last spring to create the world's largest plate of hummus, clocking in at a whopping 23,520 pounds of creamy chickpea goodness. Broken down, that's eight tons of hummus, two tons of tahini, two tons of lemon juice, and 154 pounds of olive oil. The previous record was held by Israel (who'd broken Lebanon's prior record), and thus "the hummus wars" began.

Before Chefs Events Canada came along, Mallie's Sports Grill & Bar in Michigan was busy smashing its own largest-burger-records to smithereens year after year. But in 2010, the Canadian company put a 590-pound burger together and sold it for more than $4,500. Now, as yet unconfirmed rumors have risen of an enormous, potentially record-breaking burger from the Alameda County Fair. The burger itself was reportedly more than 1 million calories and weighed in at 777 pounds, taking 15 hours to cook.

The Bollywood Burner sounds as much like an Indian rom-com as it does a fiery, mouth-igniting bowl of curry. At London's Cinnamon Club restaurant, chef Vivek Singh was commissioned by Richard Branson's Virgin brand to create the world's hottest curry, containing Naga peppers (with their seeds) that are more than 100 times hotter than jalapeños. It comes with lamb, Deccan chile, Dorset Naga seeds, Kashmiri chili powder, sesame tamarind sauce, and Scotch Bonnet peppers.

As the old adage goes: it takes a village... to create the world's largest arepa. In Venezuela earlier this year, 10 local women started by preparing 1,393 pounds of dough, which was cooked in a specially crafted oven and ultimately measured 19-by-19 feet.

Nobody can claim that French chef Philippe Gardette doesn't get into the holiday spirit; he holds the Guinness World Record for the longest Yule log. Nearly 500 feet worth of classic French Christmas spirit, each piece of the Yule log was sold by a children's charity after it was on display at the Christmas market at La Defense, outside of Paris, last December.