By Dave Branco

Carrots, butter, and a crazy idea: how one man’s 80th became a world record

Mar 26, 2026 | 3:59 PM

QUESNEL – Most people celebrate their 80th birthday with a cake, but for one Quesnel resident, it meant breaking a world record. Ted Martindale baked what could be the biggest carrot cake ever, and this week, he’s sharing every bit of it with his community.

The cake weighed six thousand pounds, measured seventeen feet square, and was five and a half inches thick. Ted Martindale and a team of twelve spent fourteen hours putting it together at the local seniors’ centre to celebrate his 80th birthday. Martindale says this cake beats the previous record of about 4,500 pounds, set in B.C. at Guildford Mall in 2016. Ted has already applied to Guinness, and the mayor was there to check every measurement.

Martindale’s restaurant team baked 432 sheet cakes and kept them on three pallets in a borrowed walk-in freezer. For assembly, they used 1,800 pounds of carrots, almost 800 pounds of butter, nearly 7,000 eggs, and 380 pounds of raisins, stacking the cakes like bricks. Ted says the project just kept getting bigger.

The cake is being sliced into large pieces for the public, and much of it will also go to the local food bank. Turkey roasters are ready for anyone who wants to take home a whole chunk. For Ted, who has run his restaurant in Quesnel for 34 years, this is more about giving back than setting a record.

Carrots, butter, and a crazy idea: how one man's 80th became a world record

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Guinness hasn’t made it official yet, but for the people of Quesnel waiting in line for a slice, the record already feels sweet enough.