Red White And Blue Cake

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan. In a large bowl, Measure flour, sugar, baking pwdr, salt, shortening, 2/3 c. of lowfat milk and the vanilla into a large mixing bowl. Beat 2 min on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Add in remaining lowfat milk and the egg whites; beat 2 min high speed scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter into pan, Bake for 35 to 40 min till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
2. Frosting:1 c. white sugar1/3 c. water1 Tbsp. light corn syrup1/8 tsp. salt2 egg whites1 tsp. vanilla extractconfectioners' sugar, if required
3. Combine sugar, water, corn syrup, and salt in a saucepan; stir till well blended. Boil slowly without stirring till mix will spin a long thread when a little is dropped from a spoon (hold the spoon high above saucepan). In a large bowl, beat egg whites with a mixer till they are stiff, but still moist. Pour warm syrup slowly over egg whites while beating. Continue till mix is very fluffy, and will hold its shape. Add in vanilla, and beat till blended. If icing does not seem stiff sufficient, beat in 2 or possibly 3 Tbsp. confectioners sugar 1 Tbsp. at a time till stiff sufficient to hold its shape. Spread on cake.
4. Decorating:Spread the icing generously over the completely cooled cake. In the top left hand corner of the frosted cake, arrange the blueberries into an outline of a rectangle which is 5 inches wide and 4 inches tall. Press the berries down into the frosting. Fill the blueberry outline in with the remaining blueberries. The blueberries will look best if placed in rows, the icing between them will resemble stars. Place strawberry halves cut side down in rows going across the cake horizontally. The bottom stripe of the flag is red, so start the first row at the bottom. Be sure to press the berries down into the frosting so the stripes won't be raised above the fluffy frosting. Serve any leftover berries with the sliced cake and ice cream.