Patriotic Layer Cake
I am a huge fan of Patriotic holidays! Independence Day is especially a favorite because it is my Love’s birthday. He is such a firecracker, maybe because he is born on July 4th! 🤣 💥 All that being said, patriotic holidays make me want to cook with a theme of red, white and blue. (Even though, this will forever be his favorite cake and birthday cake.) This year, I set my mind to make a patriotic layer cake for Homecoming, but I did not want to kill myself doing it.
The first Sunday in July since I was born has been Homecoming Day at my home church, Cedar Springs Baptist Church. And it is a huge gathering of lots of my most favorite people and the best cooks in the land. I typically try to think of something fun and yummy to bring that also makes a statement. Why a statement? Because well it is the south and that is who I am. Enter the recipe for this patriotic layer cake!
I love a good layer cake, and I knew I wanted it to be red, white and blue. A lot of people swear that scratch made is the best cake. But I have to be honest, I much prefer to doctor a cake mix. It never fails me. No one ever knows and I always get compliments on my cakes. So for this cake I added some flour, sugar, sour cream and vanilla to the mix and voila, so dang good!
Red & Blue Layers
I did not want it to just taste like white cake with food coloring. So I decided to flavor the red layer with pureed strawberries and the blue layer with pureed blueberries. The colors are vibrant. Unfortunately, I did not think to get some great quality gel food coloring, but if you want darker colors just use darker food coloring.
The icing on this cake is a good old fashioned buttercream. I am a sucker for it and think it made this cake outstanding with the berry flavors. You could add jam or fresh berries between the layers if you want more berry flavor. Or throw in some emulsion/extract to kick it up a notch. This has more of a subtle berry flavor, but I love it that way!
Of course you don’t need a holiday to make this patriotic layer cake, you can also just make it because you want a good cake. Do you love holidays and themes as much as me? I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. As always, thanks for stopping by to my little piece of the internet. I have been MIA for a while, but I am feeling more and more the pull to blog again. I hope you will keep visiting!
Patriotic Layer Cake
Ingredients
Cake Layers
- 1 box Duncan Hines White Cake Mix
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 cup milk
- 4 egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup pureed strawberries
- 1/2` cup pureed blueberries
Buttercream
- 4 sticks salted butter (2 cups)
- 7 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake Layers
- Mix cake mix, flour, sugar, salt, sour cream, butter, milk, egg whites and vanilla extract in a larger mixer, slow and then increasing speed until well blended, around 2-3 minutes. Pour two cups of batter each into 2 bowls, leaving 2 cups of white mix in the original bowl. Add the strawberries to one bowl and blend well, add food coloring to make more vibrant. Add the blueberries to the other bowl and blend well, add food coloring to make more vibrant. Pour each bowl of batter into greased and floured 8 inch cake pans. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cakes and make buttercream.
Buttercream
- In a bowl cream chilled butter for 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Gradually add the sifted sugar one cup at a time until well blended. Slowly add whipping cream a little at a time and add extract. Whip the icing 6-8 minutes or until light and fluffy. Ice cake and top with fresh berries, if desired.
Leave a Reply