Gingerbread-Man-Shaped Cake
Ingredients:
Cake-Shaping Strip (from 10 sushi-mat segments)
Heavy-duty aluminum foil
Sheet pan
Prepared cake batter (see the Gingerbread Cake batter or prepare batter using about 2 boxes of cake mix)
Frosting (see the Orange Cream-Cheese Frosting recipe or use about 1/2 (16-ounce) container of store-bought white frosting)
Sprinkles
2 chocolate chips
Instructions:
1. Line a sheet pan with two sheets of aluminum foil. Shape the Cake-Shaping Strip into a shape of a gingerbread man. Exaggerate the spatial features, as they'll seem smaller after you unwrap and ice the cake. Wrap the bottom foil layers around the strip. Cut the foil or add extra bottom foil strips as needed to wrap around the strip. Press small balls of loosely packed 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.
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. Pipe on buttons, eyes, a mouth, and arm/leg decorations. Sprinkle the frosting buttons with sprinkles. Place upside-down chocolate chips into the frosting eyes to look like pupils.
5. Serve the cake with extra frosting or with ice cream.
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