If you’ve been on the lookout for the perfect dessert to complete your Fourth of July outdoor barbecue, look no further. Because this layered flag cake might just be the most patriotic dessert to have ever existed, and thankfully, it’s easier to make than you might imagine.
The recipe comes from Betty Crocker, and it takes you through how to create this red, white and blue layered perfection. You’ll need three boxes of Betty Crocker Super Moist white cake mix to complete the recipe, so you know what that means — no making a cake from scratch!
Once you’ve got your cake mixes handy, you’ll need strawberries and blueberries. The summer berries lend color and flavor to this delicious recipe. They’re also combined with red and blue coloring so the cake matches the American flag perfectly.
You’ll mix the red, white and blue layers separately. The cake mix, red paste food coloring and strawberries create the red layer; cake mix, blue food coloring and blueberries make the blue layer; and last but not least, the cake mix without any additional coloring or fruit will become the white layer.
Once each layer of cake is baked, the assembly will be the most challenging part.
You’ll start by stacking the bottom three layers, red, white and red, using a thin layer of frosting between each. Then, you’ll add a smaller layer of white and red, frosting between the two and along the sides. The blue layer, with the center removed, will surround those two.
Complete the dessert by frosting the entire cake and adding sprinkles. In the end, your festive cake should look like exactly like the flag when you cut into it.
If this still seems a little too challenging, there are plenty of other patriotic dessert recipes out there. They may not all look like tiny, edible replicas of the flag, but that’s OK, too.
This recipe for red, white and blue poke cake from Pillsbury just asks that you decorate the top of a frosted cake with strawberries and blueberries to look like the flag — and you can totally handle that! Then, there’s still a surprise in store when you cut into this dessert because of a step that required you to pour a strawberry gelatin mixture into holes poked into the top of a cake with a fork. By the time a slice makes it to your guests, this will look like an incredibly festive treat.
No matter how you go about incorporating red, white and blue into your cakes this July 4, you’ll wind up with a dessert that’s as patriotic as it is tasty — and that’s just what you were going for.
Enjoy!
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for other great tips and ideas to make the most out of life.
