A simple American Flag Cake to make on patriotic holidays or any day you’re feeling festive! There is something just so special about red, white, and blue. Give me all the Americana, flags, bunting, and all the berry topped flag cakes, here is an easy single layer vanilla American Flag Cake with stabilized whipped cream frosting.
This flag cake will put smiles on everyone’s faces…
and with smaller celebrating this cake will yield 8-10 servings that are a nice size without being huge, if you want large slices you’ll get 6 slices.
I love simple recipe and this cake can be mixed with a bowl and whisk, and since it’s not huge you won’t need a few strawberries and a handful of blueberries.
The frosting on this cake is so delicious, it is made with whipped cream, but it won’t go flat or watery… it’s stabilized with a little cream cheese and OMG it gives the whipped cream a thicker texture and a cheesecake flavor that is so yummy.’
If you’re looking for a larger cake be sure to check out my Vanilla Layer Cake, it’s perfect for large gatherings, parties, great to take to the office to share. It’s 2 13×9 cakes, so plenty of cake for everyone and so delicious it’ll get rave reviews!
To ensure a level cake I use baking strips around the outside of the 8″ round baking pan, they work great and produce level cake every time.
I spread the frosting with a small offset spatula
THIS is the vanilla cake recipe I used for this cake.
Having everything ready and having the right tools makes it easier when you begin a project, I store my baking strips inside my cake pans, so I don’t have to hunt around for them when I want to make a cake! They are easy to use, you just dip them in water and wrap them around the outside of the cake pan before you put it in the oven, it helps the cake bake evenly. I used to use strips of towels, these are far easier to put on.
The frosting for this cake is thick and creamy without being overly sweet, and it tastes a bit like cheesecake, which is always a good thing in my book!
What you’ll need for the stabilized whipped cream frosting
- 5 oz heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
If you want to frost the sides of the cake you just need to add an additional 2 oz of heavy cream.
I use an immersion blender with a whisk attachment when I’m making a small batch of frosting, but you can use whatever mixer you prefer.
First whip the heavy cream with powdered sugar, then add in the cream cheese and vanilla, this will ensure the frosting stays fluffy by whipping the cream first.
This recipe is AMAZING and so great for many desserts, top some brownies with it and add sprinkles for a extra deliciousness.
What size cake pan to use?
I baked this cake in an 8″ round pan, the pan is 2 inches high.
You can bake this in an 8″ square pan, the cake will not be as high and will probably take about 5 minutes less time to bake, and will look cute decorated like a flag as well.
To ensure a level cake I use baking strips around the outside of the 8″ round baking pan, they work great and produce level cake every time. Here is a link to the baking strips. I used to use strips of towels, you wet either one, wrap and secure it around the outer edge of the pan to prevent the cake from baking a rounded dome shape, it’ll bake a nice even cake.
How much fruit should I need to decorate this cake?
Have about 1/2 cup blueberries and 6 or so strawberries to decorate the cake,
you can easily fit more berries if you prefer, make the stripes closer together, pile the blueberries on top of each other, leave the strawberries in lager pieces, cut them in half, replace strawberries with raspberries, or use blue and red m&m’s to decorate the cake if you don’t want to use berries, rows of sprinkles also work well too, gently place pieces of foil or wax paper to create a barrier to add sprinkle so they don’t stick to the frosting area you’d like to keep white.
I find it’s easiest to get the flag to look “even” is to slice similar size strawberries into small pieces and then lay them down so they are are “pointed” in the same direction, but you can certainly alternate the pattern for a fun effect or just slice the berries in half, you will need more berries if you do that.
If you’re looking for more berry recipe be sure to check these out:
- Strawberry Cake
- Strawberry Bourbon Lemonade
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- Strawberry Lemonade Mimosas
- Blueberry Galette
- Banana Blueberry Cake
- Blueberry Oatmeal Smoothie
Be sure to print the recipe for the Vanilla Cake Recipe HERE.
- 5 oz heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 oz cream cheese, cut into small pieces
- I use an immersion blender (with the whip attachment) to mix small batches of frosting like this, but any mixer will work, or you can whisk it by hand if necessary, it's often hard to whip a small batch with a big stand mixer, a hand held mixer will work better.
- First whip the heavy cream with powdered sugar until it whipped fluffy and thick and a soft peak forms when the whisk is pulled out of the cream.
- Then add in the pieces of cream cheese and vanilla and mix until it's smooth.
More American Flag, Patriotic, Red White and Blue Recipes
- Red White and Blue Patriotic Cake – vanilla cake colored buttercream
- 8” round American Flag Cake a simple cake you’ll make again and again
- Patriotic tye dye cake fun and easy to make white cake with colored frosting
- Red White and Blue Patriotic Cake – vanilla cake-colored buttercream
- Cherry Pie Cookies – deep dish vanilla cookies with cherry filling
- Red White and Blue Tart Fruit tart
- Vanilla Layer Cake 2 layer sheet cake with pastry cream, topped with berries
- Patriotic Spritz Cookies butter cookies perfect for celebrating the USA
- American Flag Cupcakes so cute, and easy to decorate
- Frosted Sugar Cookies to look like the US Flag
- Red White and Blue Colored Cake Batter- cupcakes
- Star Cookies with sprinkles in red white and blue and a template for giant cookies
- Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze perfect to start a patriotic day
- Fruit Squares Cake– apple, blueberry, cherry looks like a flag
- Red White and Blue Spaghetti a fun meal everyone will rave over
- Red White and Blue deviled eggs so fun every celebration needs these
- Red Velvet No Bake Cheesecake pretty, delicious and no oven needed
- Red White and Blue Tie Dye Cookies fun cut out cookies in patriotic colors
- Chocolate Ice Cream Shaped Cookies in cones with patriotic sprinkles
If you like this or any other recipe at 
Grace says
Amazing cake, so pretty and I love how simple it is, great since we’ve been just enjoying our family time since everything is shut down and we prefer to eat at home. I’m loving your small batch recipes like this, keep it up. I think we’ll be celebrating with a cake like this more often now and I can’t wait to see what you make next.