Normally you’ll see red white and blue and USA themed cakes start popping up this time of the year for the 4th of July. I made this cake for my husband’s birthday in April this year but the 4th of July is the perfect time for this cake! At the bottom of the page there is a link for a video on decorating this cake.
Before I started the cake I made a quick template to follow. I taped together copy paper in the size of my sheet pan and then measured out 13 stripes evenly spaced. I also marked off the upper left corner for the blueberries and buttercream stars. This gave me an idea of how to plan the cake.
You can use your favorite vanilla cake recipe and vanilla buttercream for this cake. I used my buttermilk vanilla cake recipe and had enough for a half sheet cake pan. (10 x 15 inches) This left enough batter for an additional dozen cupcakes. I spread the batter evenly in the pan and only filled it about half way up the sides so it had room to rise as it baked. I also added some sprinkles to the batter but that is completely optional.
You’ll want the berries to be fresh. This isn’t a cake that’s great to make a day ahead of time. Enjoy it when you are done decorating it! While it may be okay overnight in the refrigerator, it won’t be nearly as delicious on day two as day one. I used strawberries for the red stripes but you could easily swap them out for raspberries.
Bake your cake in a buttered and floured sheet pan. I didn’t use parchment this time because I just decorated the cake while leaving it in the pan. Once your cake is cool, spread a thick layer of buttercream frosting on top.
I bought about 680 grams (24 ounces) of strawberries and 250 grams (8.8 ounces) of blueberries. This gave me plenty to use for the cake and some extra that my kids happily ate. After washing and drying the fruit I took the caps off the strawberries and thinly sliced them.
Using the template as a reference I drew the lines across the top of the buttercream. You can use a knife to gently do this or a pastry cutter. If your lines are uneven, simply smooth out the frosting and try again. Also, plan out the area in the upper left corner for the blueberries. I filled in the blueberries first.
Place the slices of strawberries inside the striped lines that you’ve drawn into your frosting, skipping every other line to look like the U.S.A. flag.
Using a small star tip, pipe the 50 stars on top of the blueberries. You’ll want to look up a picture of the flag to mimic the spacing. The top row will have 6 stars, followed by a row of 5 stars. The rows will alternate between 6 and 5 stars for a total of 9 rows of stars.
Enjoy! Fresh berries with buttercream is always a delicious flavor combination. Have a Happy 4th of July!
