Ria is a homeschooled ninth-grader who loves Chesterton, Tolkien, Irish dance, and chocolate cake—proving her to be a girl of excellent taste. On her charming blog, Liber Parma, she has issued a challenge: find a place where you could have a chocolate cake farm. That is, where on earth could you grow or produce all the ingredients necessary to make chocolate cake without buying anything? Ria writes:

Cocoa beans and sugar cane grow in similar climates, wheat can grow in
many places. We are not sure where you can get baking powder and baking
soda but if anyone else knows please let me know. Salt you can get from
the sea, for eggs you need a chicken and for milk a cow is necessary.
You need a vegetable and a press for vegetable oil, vanilla beans grow
in warm climates just like cocoa beans and sugar cane, and water is
likely to be in any place where people live.

Okay so you have
the background, now I have a challenge for you. Find a place, or several
places where you could have a farm that produces all of these things.
Use books, internet, whatever and have fun. Please comment back and
tell me what you found.

There is already some very interesting information in the comments. Related posts can be found at my favorite geography blog, The Map Guys, and at Studeo.

Ria, I’m afraid I must add a critical ingredient to your list: pecans. You can’t make my mom’s now-famous Rocky Road Sheet Cake without them!