Happy (almost) Fourth of July! I’m a little homesick at the moment because I know I’ll be missing out on the celebrations, fireworks, barbecues and crab feasts my friends and family are having at home. However, just because I’m abroad doesn’t mean I can’t have a great celebration. Ryan and I are traveling to Scotland for a week long vacation so I’ve got nothing to complain about. And we had some pre-holiday celebration in our flat thereby bringing a little piece of the USA to our place. My friend Kym sent me a bunch of decorations, I bought some stars and stripes socks and earrings, and I made a beautiful American flag inside surprise cake. I’m actually crazy proud of this cake and I’ve been showing photos of it to my friends for the last few days.

I really like the idea of surprise inside cakes. From the outside the cake looks wonderful and then the surprise decoration on the interior makes a good thing even better. I’ve only had a cake like this one other time, and that was when I made a checkerboard cake for my nephew Boden’s birthday. But, I’ve seen some amazing things on Pinterest and in cookbooks. I’ve seen Halloween cakes with a pumpkin inside, birthday cakes that are like pinatas with candy spilling out of the middle, and polka dot pattern cakes. People can make such amazing cakes!! I think inside design cakes should be come more of a big thing. They look great and just aren’t as difficult to master as they seem.

Now for the 4th of July I know there are lots of great food you can make. Of course you have the classic burgers and hot dogs, a few savory sides, and those red white and blue rocket popsicles (I miss those!) – but why not get even more patriotic with your food? Online you can find a wealth of ideas like cutting watermelon into star shapes, using blueberries and strawberries to make a flag pattern on a sheet cake, or throw red white and blue sprinkles on some sugar cookies. But making a fancy inside flag cake is perfect for the holiday because you’ll likely have lots of people to share it with. And hopefully, those people will ooh and aah over how great your cake looks. While they’re all impressed, you’ll know that making this cake wasn’t actually such hard work!

So as not to overwhelm myself when I made this, I used boxed vanilla cake mix. I’m not the greatest cake baker and I wanted to worry about construction not taste. Feel free though to use your favorite white or yellow cake recipe. The version I made is the most basic and all you’ll need is three layers of cake: one white (un-dyed), one red, and one blue. This will result in a cake with two white stripes, two red stripes, and one blue square. If you want more stripes just make more layers of cake. I think if I did it again I’d do one more layer of red cake and that way I’d have three red stripes and two white. Also I’d love to try mixing white sprinkles into the blue cake and see if they’d look a bit like stars.

But anyway, without further ado here are the tools you’ll need:

• a circular cake pan (I used 6″ pan because I wanted more height in each layer)
• a knife
• a circular lid/cutter/bowl
• gel food coloring in red, blue, and black
• frosting (2 store bought containers should do it, or your favorite recipe)

Gel food coloring gives the cake a rich opaque color without having to use a ton of dye. I used Wilton brand dyes and needed about 1/4 teaspoon of the red and blue dye and then added about 2-4 drops of black to each. You don’t have to use black but it makes the color deep and dark instead of a light pastel hue.

To get three layers of cake you’ll need either 2 boxes or 1.5 stanard cake recipes. You will have extra cake that doesn’t go into the final product. That’s hardly a problem through, right? Who gets mad about extra cake? Now, back to baking. Make one plain undyed layer, one blue layer, and one red layer. Let them cool completely before cutting. Cut the white and red layers in half lengthwise. Using a bowl, lid, or something else circular, cut a hole in the middle of the blue layer. I used something that was about 3.5″ in diameter – this means that the blue part of my flag will be slightly smaller than 50% of the flag’s length. Remove the inside of the blue layer and set aside. You don’t need it. Using that same circular tool, cut a circle in one red layer and in one white layer. Remove the outside of that red and white layer, you don’t need it. For the construction of the flag you should now have the follow:

• 1 blue donut layer of cake
• 1 red small circle
• 1 red large circle
• 1 white small circle
• 1 white large circle

Let’s put it all together! Place the large while circle on a plate or cake stand. Frost the top of that layer, then top with the large red circle. Frost the top of the red layer then put the blue donut on top. Frost the inside edges of the blue donut. Put the small white circle inside the blue donut. Frost the top of the small white circle. Place the small red circle on top. Use your knife to cut off any cake that is sticking up above the blue layer. Frost the whole outside of the cake. You will likely have unsightly crumbs stuck in your icing. That’s ok!

Once everything is frosted put it in the frige for 15-20 minutes. Once that first layer of frosting is firm, spread another layer of frosting on top. This second layer is your neat and pretty layer. Then decorate the top of the cake as you like with sprinkles, icing, sparklers or whatever. I used extra crumbs from the scrap pieces of cake I didn’t use.

You’ve done it! See, that wasn’t so hard. Sure it takes a bit of time, but it’s totally worth it. Now serve your cake, watch the fireworks, and have a great evening.

If you’d like to watch how to make the video, below is a 2 minute video I made.  Hope it helps!

Messy level: By no means will this create an explosion in your kitchen. However, since you have to make three layers of cake, cut them, assemble them, and frost them there is a good bit of stuff that will splatter, spill and need to be washed. Nothing too stressful, but it’s not a one bowl clean up job either.

How to Make an American Flag Cake

 

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Ingredients

• 1-3 circular cake pans (I only have one, three would make things quicker)
• 2 boxes of vanilla cake mix OR 1.5 of your favorite vanilla cake recipe (you need 3 layers of cake)
• red gel food coloring
• blue gel food coloring
• black gel food coloring (optional)
• knife
• lid/bowl/cutter that's smaller in diameter than your cake pan
• 2 containers of frosting OR enough homemade frosting to ice a large cake
• sprinkles and decorations as desired

Instructions

1. Prepare the batter for your cake according to the box or recipe directions. Evenly divide the batter into quarters. Use a scale if you have it or eyeball it if you don't. [Note: Even though you're only going to use 3 out of 4 layers make all 4. If you use all that batter to just make 3 layers I don't think the cakes will come out well.]
2. Leave one quarter plain.
3. Add ¼ teaspoon red food dye and 1-3 drops black dye to one quarter of the batter. Mix and check to see if it's a color you like. Adjust the color until you have your perfect balance.
4. Add ¼ teaspoon blue food dye and 1-3 drops black dye to one quarter of the batter. Mix and check to see if it's a color you like. Adjust the color until you have your perfect balance.
5. Do what you want with the last quarter. Maybe leave it to bake until last then if one of the other layers comes out crazy you can use this as a replacement.
6. Bake the cakes according to the box or recipe directions.
7. Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool completely.
8. Once cool, cut the red and white cakes in half lengthwise.
9. Using a bowl, lid, or cutter cut out a circle from the middle of the red and white cakes. The hole would be about ⅔ the diameter of the cake. So if you use a 6" cake pan, cut a circle that's about 3.5-4" in diameter. Discard or set aside the outer rings, you won't need them. Set aside the small circles - you do need those. [Note: If you get confused about the cuts see the photo above in the main body of the post]
10. Using that same bowl/lid/cutter cut a circle out of the middle of the blue layer. Set aside the inside circle. You don't need it.
11. Place the large white layer on a plate or cake stand. Frost the top of that layer.
12. Place the large red layer on top of the frosted white layer. Frost the top of the red layer.
13. Put the blue donut ring layer on top of the red layer. Frost the top and inside of the blue ring.
14. Put the white small circle layer inside the blue ring. Frost the top of the white circle.
15. Put the red circle on top of the white circle. Cut off any excess red cake that is sticking above the blue layer.
16. Roughly ice the whole cake. Don't worry if crumbs are in the icing.
17. Put the cake in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes. This is to chill the icing.
18. Once the icing is slightly hardened, frost it again. This layer should be your pretty layer.
19. Decorate the cake as you desire.
20. Serve and watch your friends and family be amazed.

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