Beverly Hills cake

Edible palm trees are lined up on the cake during preparations for the party.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Roberto the Dancing Man, who declined to give a last name, prances during the party in Beverly Hills.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Spectators watch and photograph as the cake, which included a replica of Beverly Hills’ City Hall, is assembled.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Detail of some of the edible ribbons and flowers decorating the centennial cake.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Singer Martha Reeves, with tambourine, and the Citrus College Dance Band perform.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Donna Feoranzo kneads modeling chocolate that she will press into molds for the cake.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

This dome was made by Mike McCarey of Mike’s Amazing Cakes in Washington state and flown in to be added to the cake.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Pastry chef Donald Wressell places a piece of molded chocolate on a plywood structure that will become part of a miniature City Hall, the backdrop for the cake.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

A mixture with luster dust is brushed onto chocolate that has been pressed into molds for the creation.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Donald Wressell stands by platforms he made that will support sheet cakes.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Pastry chef Donald Wressell trims fondant as he makes the cake, which will serve 15,000 people.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Donna Feoranzo helps out by cutting the modeling chocolate that has been pressed into a mold.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Flower petals are assembled for placement on the cake.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Pastry chef Donald Wressell looks over finished sections of the ambitious project.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)