BITES : Big Cake

To celebrate Flag Day, volunteers in Philadelphia made, or perhaps compiled, the world’s largest flag cake June 14. It was 400 times the size of Betsy Ross’ original flag--60 by 90 feet, the size of 1 1/2 tennis courts--and weighed 15 tons.

How do you get something like that into the oven? You don’t. It was made by assembling 8 1/2 tons of Sara Lee pound cake and frosting with 2 tons each of Comstock strawberry and blueberry pie filling and 2 tons of Cool Whip.

Students from Bucks County Community College’s culinary arts program prepared the 2,070 pans of cake as part of their course work. Volunteers from clubs and civic organizations pieced it together.

The cake-cutting featured a flag ceremony by Pennsylvania Boy and Girl Scout groups and a patriotic fife and drum fanfare. Slices were distributed to the crowds, and the rest of the cake was donated through a food distribution program to emergency kitchens and shelters.

But It’s Biodegradable

Police discovered 64 piles of white powder along a 2.2-mile stretch from San Marino to Pasadena on May 21, prompting a six-hour cleanup by a hazardous materials team and warnings to pet owners of a possible attempt to poison animals. The powder turned out to be flour.

The piles, technically known as “droppings,” had been deposited by organizers known as “hares” to mark the trail of a cross-country run by the semi-athletic club called the Hash House Harriers. The Hash, which has been called a drinking club with a running problem, is famous for its whimsical and bizarre choices of places to run.

Pasadena Humane Society official Steve McNall was not amused. “Dogs and cats are prone to lick up any number of things. And there is so much maliciousness in our communities that you have to be cautious,” he said.

Ironically, a lot of Harriers failed to spot all the flour markers. “Many runners didn’t find as many markers as the Humane Society did,” said Hash member Rick Muller.