Football Field Cake

Ingredients

• For the Cake:
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups plus two tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs
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• For the Frosting:
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 to 5 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Green food coloring
• For Football Field Decorations
• A sharpie or black marker
• A sheet of white paper
• 2 wooden skewers
• 6 toothpicks
• Glue
• An almond

Directions

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat it to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9- by 12-inch cake pan with butter, then dust it with flour. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the milk and vanilla.
2. Using an electric mixer in a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture looks pale and airy, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition, and stop to scrape any batter clinging to the bowl.
3. Beat a third of the flour mixture into the butter mixture just until it disappears. Blend in half of the milk mixture, then beat in another third of the flour mixture. Add the rest of the milk mixture, followed by the last of the flour mixture, and continue beating until the batter is thick and smooth, about 1 minute.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 45 minutes, turning the pan 1 time at the halfway point, until a cake tester comes out clean from the center. If the surface is browning too quickly, lay foil over the cake.
5. Cool the cake in the pan for at least 10 minutes. Move it to a wire rack, then leave it there until it reaches room temperature.
6. For the frosting, put the butter, 3 cups of confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is smooth, about 10 pulses of 1 second each. Taste and add more sugar in 1/2 cup additions, pulsing after each addition until blended.
7. Measure out 1/4 cup of the frosting and reserve it. Tint the frosting left in the bowl with drops of green food coloring, stirring until you like the shade.
8. Cut 2 wooden skewers in half. Arrange 2 of the halves parallel to each other, spaced about 3 inches apart. Glue a toothpick across them to form the crossbar, then make a matching goal post the same way with the remaining 2 skewer halves and another toothpick.
9. Cut a flag shape from the white paper. Write your team's name on the flag, then glue it to a toothpick.
10. For the referee, cut a circle out of the paper and draw on a cheerful face. Cut out a shirt, add vertical black stripes, and glue 2 toothpicks into a cross. After the glue dries, attach the head to the top of the vertical toothpick, then fasten the shirt to the horizontal toothpick.
11. Spread the green frosting over the top layer of the cake. With the reserved white frosting, add the field lines and end zones. Set the goal posts, flags, and referee in place, and put the almond at the center for the football.