American Flag Cake

16 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes

American Flag Cake made with a homemade vanilla cake recipe, cool whip and fresh berries is the perfect patriotic dessert for your summer cookout.

We love easy Cake Recipes and this recipe is a quick and easy cake recipe you will absolutely LOVE!

American Flag Cake AMERICAN FLAG CAKE

Summer desserts are quick and easy and fun by nature and this American Flag Cake  sheet cake recipe fits the bill perfectly for your 4th of July celebrations! We start with my Easy Vanilla Cake Recipe that I adjust just a bit for batter color and I top it with some Homemade Cool Whip (you can of course use store bought) and fresh berries. 

Red, White and Blue

We choose strawberries and blueberries in this sheet cake recipe to mimic the American Flag colors because this patriotic recipe is the perfect dessert for Memorial Day, Fourth of July or any other day you want to celebrate the red, white and blue American Flag.

Blueberries: The blueberries in this recipe represent the stars. They represent them not in the actual blueberries themselves but in the white spaces between the blueberries.

StrawberriesThe strawberries do double duty creating the red stripes and the white stripes on the cake. You can either make the stripes by cutting your strawberries simply in half or you can thinly slice them and lay them on their side. 

We keep the strawberries simply sliced in half because they release less liquid this way which will keep the top of the cake looking beautiful longer. If you slice the strawberries thinly, be sure to dry the slices very, very well with a paper towel and serve the cake immediately after decorating.

The best part of this recipe is it takes no artistic efforts at all (you can count on that, as I have zero artistic abilities). This is why if you look at our pages of cakes, like our Easy Chocolate Cake or Classic Yellow Cake you will see I frost things very simply.

If you have any leftover frosting when you are decorating your cake you can use a star tip to create a border for the cake. This is only if you are using whipped cream or a frosting made with powdered sugar that has more structure than Cool Whip.

How to Make Flag Cake:

  • Make a Classic Vanilla Cake batter in a 9×13 pan.
  • Let cake cool completely.
  • Frost the cake with Cool Whip, Whipped Cream or Buttercream Frosting.
  • Use Blueberries to make the stars.
  • Use Strawberries to make the stripes. 

If you’d prefer to use a cake mix you can use a White Cake boxed cake mix and top with either cool whip or canned cream cheese frosting or vanilla frosting before adding on the fresh fruit.

American Flag Layer Cake

You can also make this cake a layer cake if you would like. To do this line your baking pan with parchment paper to easily remove the cake from the pan and carefully remove the completely cooled cake from the baking pan.  

Slice horizontally through the middle of the cake and add the bottom layer back into the pan.

Fill with buttercream frosting (adding fresh berries to the middle here would be delicious too) and top with the top layer of the cake before frosting and decorating as directed in the recipe card.

Be sure not to add too thick of a layer of frosting in the middle as you won’t have space in the baking pan for the rest of the decorations.

Box Mix American Flag Cake:

  • 1 box White Cake Mix
  • 16 ounces Cool Whip
  • 1 pint blueberries
  • 2 pounds strawberries
  1. Bake the white cake mix according to the box directions in a 9×13 baking pan then cool on a wire rack.
  2. Frost with a tub of cool whip then place back into the freezer for at least one hour.
  3. Decorate with blueberries and strawberries as shown in the photograph, with the blueberries making the stars and the strawberries making the stripes.

Slice of white cake with strawberries and blueberries

Topping/Frosting Options:

Cool Whip: Homemade Cool whip is what we use in the recipe, but store bought is fine too, just be sure to spread it evenly and once spread put your cake into the freezer for an hour before garnishing.

Whipped Cream: In place of Cool Whip you can use Easy Whipped Cream but be aware that whipped cream that is not stabilized will not hold up after 30 minutes. I recommend using whipped cream only if the American Flag Cake will be served immediately.

Buttercream Frosting: Using Classic Buttercream Frosting is the easiest, room temperature friendly option but it is also a heavier option. 

Troubleshooting

If your cake is falling apart it is most likely too dry. There are a few reasons this might happen.

  • Make sure your oven temperature is correct. An oven thermometer is an inexpensive but very important tool to keep in your kitchen to be sure you aren’t accidentally over or under-baking your food. You can use it in any closed cooking environment.
  • Measure your flour correctly. This is the easiest place to have a baking recipe fail. To measure your flour correctly be sure you don’t use your measuring cup to scoop your flour. Use a spoon to spoon flour into your measuring cup, then level it off with a knife.
  • If you’re replacing the eggs or butter in this recipe, make sure you’re not removing all of the fat because it helps keep the texture of the cake soft. I also recommend not using any butter substitutes, like margarine.
  • Be sure to only add in your flour mixture in your electric mixer until just combined. Overmixing the dry ingredients can cause your cake to be dry.
  • If the cake falls upon coming out of the oven it can be because too much baking powder was used in the recipe. Be sure to level off how much baking powder was used in the recipe.

If you’d like to make your cake more moist you can use these easy tips:

  • Don’t substitute the butter, milk, or eggs for lower fat ingredients. The fat in this vanilla cake recipe helps keep everything moist and light.
  • Try using buttermilk instead of milk, because the acid and fat in the buttermilk will work with the gluten to help give your cake a softer fluffy texture.
  • Substitute part of the butter with vegetable oil.
  • Using brown sugar in place of white sugar will add more moisture but it will darken the color of the cake.

Food Safety Recommendations:

Refrigeration: This cake can be refrigerated for up to 48 hours if decorated with cool whip or buttercream. If decorated with homemade whipped cream the whipped cream will deflate within 2-3 hours.

Freezer: This flag cake can be frozen for up to 3 months. Decorate with fruit upon defrosting.

Room Temperature: This recipe can be served at room temperature for up to 2 hours. It should not be consumed after being left out for more than 2 hours because food bacteria can grow at temperatures between 40°F and 140°F (this is why a 37°F helps to preserve food longer).

Slice of Flag Cake with White Cake on plate

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American Flag Cake

American Flag Cake made with a homemade vanilla cake recipe, cool whip and fresh berries is the perfect patriotic dessert for your summer cookout.
Yield 16 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 1/3 cups sugar
  • 4 large egg whites
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 16 ounces Cool Whip (Homemade Version)
  • 1 pint blueberries
  • 2 pounds strawberries , halved

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a 9x13 rectangular pan.
  • To your stand mixer add the butter and sugar and beat them together until light and fluffy on medium speed, 2-3 minutes, then add in the eggs one at a time 15 seconds apart along with the vanilla then lower the speed to low and add the milk until smooth.
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt then add to the stand mixer on low speed until just combined.
  • Pour into the rectangular pan and bake, shake gently back and forth to make sure the batter is evenly distributed and cook for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Once cooled, spread cool whip over the top.
  • Dry your fruit very well with a paper towel, place blueberries in top left corner, and arrange strawberries in stripes.

Nutrition

Calories: 297kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 115mg | Potassium: 251mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 365IU | Vitamin C: 36.2mg | Calcium: 88mg | Iron: 1.2mg
Keyword: Flag Cake

4th of July Cake

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. We made this last year and it was so much fun! Kids are excited to help me make them again this year! Yey!

    1. You could always just make the angel food cake and decorate the top with the cool whip and berries. I hope you enjoy it!

  2. This is just perfect with Memorial Day coming up! And, I love that you have a homemade cool whip recipe. I definitely prefer the pure ingredients to the storebought version.

  3. Loved this recipe. I took the easy route and used box cake and store bought Cool Whip and it turned out great. Thanks for the recipe.