Hundreds of bakers and chefs in southern India came together on Wednesday to create what they hoped would be ratified as the world's longest cake about 6.5 kilometres (four miles).

They spread chocolate ganache on the serpentine dessert stretched out on thousands of tables and desks at a festival ground and adjoining roads in the coastal state of Kerala's Thrissur city.

The vanilla cake, four inches (10 centimetres) wide and thick, weighed in at about 27,000 kilograms (59,500 pounds).

About 1,500 bakers and chefs - wearing traditional whites and classic French toques blanche hats - spent nearly four hours putting it together using 12,000 kilograms of sugar and flour.

Large crowds watched the event organised by Bakers Association Kerala (BAKE). The group's secretary general, Naushad, said Guinness World Records had assessed the cake as being 6,500 metres but their confirmation of the exact length was pending.

That much cake would surpass the current Guinness record held by Chinese bakers in Zixi county who made a fruitcake almost 3.2 kilometres long in 2018.

"This is an effort to showcase our skills to the world," Naushad, who uses one name, told AFP.

"We ensured hygiene and taste are up to the mark."