All birthday parties need a cake and Columbia’s 250th Anniversary in 2003 was no different. Harlem native Patrick De’Shaun Dennis III, better known as Cake Man Raven, made a 13-foot-tall replica of Low Library in his signature flavor: red velvet. While this massive 3.5-ton cake was impressive, Cake Man Raven’s masterpiece was yet to come. He entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest sculptured cake in 2012.

In October 2003, Cake Man Raven was the designer and master baker of a 3.5-ton cake celebrating Columbia’s 250th anniversary. Before beginning the undertaking, Cake Man Raven took photos of Low Library, reviewed drawings, and even went on the roof to come up with a model of the cake. Sixty dozen eggs, 250 pounds of flour and over 900 pounds of confectioners’ sugar later, the enormous cake came to campus on a flatbed truck. Nearly 3,500 Columbians were there for the official unveiling during a (sadly rainy) Birthday Bash. You can see the amazing journey of the construction, transportation and presentation of the cake in the 8-minute documentary “A Cake for Kings.”