9 Ton Mayan Chocolate Temple

Whether you believe that the world will end in 2012 or not thanks to the Mayan calendar, a 9-ton pyramid made out of chocolate is still pretty cool.

Qzina Specialty foods created this replica of the Kukulkan temple in Chichen Itza, Mexico, which comes to us via Laughing Squid. The sculpture has already beaten the previous Guinness World Record for the largest chocolate sculpture.

Chocolate pyramid

Chocolate pyramid

Chocolate pyramid

Chocolate pyramid

The base measures 10 feet by 10 feet and weighs 3,000 pounds alone. The whole thing weighs over 9 tons of pure chocolate and is six feet tall. It took the company’s pastry chef 400 hours to build.

Breaking a Guinness World Record for building the largest chocolate sculpture will be Qzina’s greatest masterpiece yet,” Richard Foley, founder and CEO of Qzina, said. “We studied Mayan pyramids at great lengths to create an exact replica of the Temple Kukulkan ?at Chichen Itza to honor the original chocolatiers.It was important for us to create something memorable in celebration of our 30th anniversary and the grand opening of the Qzina Institute of Chocolate & Pastry.”

Qzina will display the sculpture in their Institute of Chocolate and Pastry until December 31. The world might truly end then, but eating chocolate isn’t a bad way to go. Might as well go out with a smile, right? It’s a fitting tribute to a culture that pretty much invented chocolate in the first place.

For more geeky chocolate, though not quite on the scale of a pyramid, check out a chocolate solar system and a chocolate 3D printer.