United-States-Shaped Cake
Ingredients:
Cake-Shaping Strip (from 6 sushi-mat segments)
Heavy-duty aluminum foil
Sheet pan
Prepared cake batter (from about 1 box of cake mix)
2 (16-oz.) containers of store-bought white frosting
Red and blue food dye
Patriotic sprinkles
Instructions:
1. Line a sheet pan with a sheet of aluminum foil. Shape the Cake-Shaping Strip into a shape of the United States. Exaggerate the spatial features, as they'll seem smaller after you unwrap and ice the cake. Wrap the bottom foil layer around the strips, cutting the foil if needed. Press small balls of foil into outer corners or edges if you think that the foil didn't wrap around the portion well enough to prevent cake-batter leakage. Wrap additional 3x6-inch pieces of foil around select regions of the strip if needed to prevent leaking.
2. Prepare your cake batter. Spray the strip and foil with cooking spray. Pour the cake batter into the prepared "pan" and bake until done. Let the cake cool.
3. Cut away any cake batter that leaked through the strip. Carefully remove the Cake-Shaping Strip. Insert the flat edge of a table knife between the strip and the cake if this helps.
4. Frost your cake with white frosting. Divide the remaining frosting. Dye half red and half blue. Place each color into a separate piping bag. Pipe the bottom border of the cake with one color and the top border with the other. Sprinkle the cake with sprinkles.
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