Grand Old Flag Cake

By á-175897

Celebrate the Fourth of July or any patriotic holiday in style with a Grand Old Flag Cake! Grab the kids to lend you a hand with decorating to get the family involved and to help crank out a beautifully festive red, white, and blue cake. This recipe is sure to be a hit at your next American-themed holiday event!

Ingredients

• CAKE:
• nonstick cooking spray
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 pint blueberries
• 1 1/2 pints raspberries

Details

Servings 12
Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 80mins
Adapted from myrecipes.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line length of 13x9-inch cake pan with parchment paper, leaving a 4-inch overhang. Lay another sheet across width of pan and up sides (without overhang). Spray paper evenly with cooking spray.

To make the cake, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat in butter on low speed until mixture is crumbly. Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Increase speed to medium and beat, scraping down inside of bowl, until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to baking pan.

Bake cake until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Holding overhanging pieces of paper, pull cake from pan and let cool completely on rack. Invert platter on cake and flip over to invert cake. Carefully peel off paper and discard.

To make the frosting, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter on medium speed until light. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Beat in lemon juice. Refrigerate frosting for about 10 minutes if it's too soft to spread.

Frost sides and top of cake. Arrange blueberries in a rectangle in upper left-hand corner of cake. Arrange raspberries in 7 rows for stripes. Refrigerate cake until serving. Cake may be made up to 3 hours ahead.