How to make the prettiest red, white, and blue patriotic cake
America’s best all decked out in red white and blue frosting, it’s the perfect patriotic cake. This Patriotic Cake is a festive vanilla cake covered in swirls of red, white, and blue buttercream frosting. It’s an easy way to turn a simple 13×9 cake into a show-stopping dessert for the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, or any summer celebration.
The cake itself is soft, moist, and full of vanilla flavor, and the decorating is much easier than it looks. You don’t need to be an expert cake decorator to make this cake. A few piping tips and three colors of frosting are all you need to create pretty swirls, roses, and little dollops of frosting all over the top.
I love this style of cake because it looks special without requiring a complicated cake design. You can make the cake ahead of time, chill it, and decorate it when you’re ready. And because it’s made in a 13×9 pan, it’s easy to cut into squares and serve at a party.
If you’re looking for a red, white and blue cake for the 4th of July, this one is a fun place to start. Put it on the dessert table next to fresh berries, cookies, or ice cream and you have a patriotic dessert everyone will want a piece of.
There are so many opportunities to serve this thick vanilla cake, all decorated in red, white, and blue.
Cake is always a good idea if you ask me…
And this cake is something special, it’s all decorated for all the patriotic celebrating.
If you like a filled cake, feel free to make some pastry cream and add it to the cake after slicing it in half to have two thinner layers. Other options are to fill it with frosting, cream cheese frosting or chocolate frosting will be delicious options.
This all starts with a 13×9 cake. This is an excellent sturdy 13×9 cake pan if you don’t have a white fluted casserole dish. I made a nice thick vanilla cake. If you want a delicious chocolate cake for this, you’ll find that recipe here.
Piping tips I used
Click on each to see them on Amazon. I also used a small 7-point star tip as well, but there was no number on it. Any star or pointed style tips will work well to make little dollops of frosting.
Depending on how much frosting you want on the cake, you can choose to slather a layer of frosting on the cake before adding the decorative frosting.
Take a look at this video of my simple tip for piping bags.
How to frost the rose shape –This video shows how I frost this style cake.
Another cake you might enjoy is this Almond Cake.
More cakes just as pretty as this:
If you’re looking for more 13×9 cakes check out the PINK CAKE and this LEMON SOUR CREAM CAKE.
Pretty Cakes that are easy to make;
If you’re looking for more sheet cakes give this 1 hour 13×9 strawberry shortcake a look.
If you’re looking for a small cake to serve give this single 8″ round cake a try this cake it’s decorated like the US Flag Cake, you can use the frosting recipe below and cut it in half if desired so you have minimal leftover frosting.
Looking for a great pan release try this one. It ensures the cake pans are coated well and that the cake won’t stick.
Why you’ll love this patriotic cake
There are a lot of reasons I like making this cake for summer celebrations.
It starts with a 13×9 cake. You don’t have to worry about stacking multiple layers or getting the sides perfectly smooth. The rectangular cake gives you plenty of room to decorate.
The cake can be made ahead. I actually like refrigerating the baked cake before decorating it. It makes the cake a little firmer and easier to frost, and it stays wonderfully moist.
The frosting does all the decorating. You don’t need fondant or a complicated cake design. The red, white, and blue buttercream makes the cake festive all on its own.
It feeds a crowd. This recipe makes about 20 servings, making it a great choice for a backyard barbecue, family gathering, picnic, or holiday party.
When to make a red, white and blue cake
Of course, the 4th of July is the first celebration that comes to mind, but there are plenty of occasions for a patriotic cake.
Make this cake for:
• Memorial Day
• 4th of July
• Labor Day
• Veterans Day
• Flag Day
• Summer birthdays
• Backyard barbecues
• Pool parties
• Neighborhood gatherings
• Patriotic-themed parties
You can also change the colors for other holidays and celebrations. The same decorating technique works beautifully with different color combinations.
How to decorate a patriotic cake
The decorating is actually the fun part.
I divide the buttercream into four portions, keeping some white, coloring one portion red, and making two shades of blue. I like having a lighter blue and a darker navy blue because it gives the cake a little more dimension.
You can use several different piping tips to create different textures. A large open star tip works beautifully for the larger swirls and roses, while smaller star tips are perfect for filling in the spaces with little dollops.
There really isn’t a wrong way to decorate it.
Start with the larger swirls and then fill in the open spaces with the other colors. I like placing the colors randomly rather than trying to make everything perfectly even. Once the entire cake is covered, the combination of colors makes it look much more complicated than it actually was to decorate.
This cake is a fun way to celebrate the USA!
Red White and Blue frosted Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
- 1 box white cake mix Duncan Hines Do not follow the directions on the package
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- pinch salt
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 4 egg whites from large eggs
- 4 oz ½ cup butter, melted
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons oil I use avocado oil, vegetable or canola would work as well
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar can add an additional cup if needed or thicker frosting is desired
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
- food coloring
- super red
- navy blue I use a small amount for the light blue and more color for the dark blue
Instructions
- Prepare a 13×9 cake pan (metal or ceramic, ceramic will take longer to bake) with a baking spray (not just an oil spray) or a pan release for baking. I have a recipe on my website if needed.
- In a large bowl with a mixer add all the ingredients in the order they are listed. Cake mix, flour, sugar, salt, water, egg whites, butter, sour cream, oil, almond, and vanilla flavors. For a more intense flavor cake you can use more vanilla or lemon, but with almond more is often too much.
- Mix on low speed until the mix starts blending, then turn onto medium speed and mix for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl and under the beater after the first minute to be sure they combine fully, then continue mixing until well blended.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared 13×9 cake pan.
- Bake at 335° (not 325° and not 350° for a well-risen cake that isn’t dark in color). I have the oven rack set just above the center and it bakes evenly.
- I start timing the cake at 40 minutes, then I test them about every 5 minutes if it’s still loose in the middle, if it’s just wet on a toothpick, test every 2 minutes. until they are just set and a toothpick comes out clean when tested in the center of the bake.
- Remove the cakes from the oven, and allow them to cool completely before frosting.
- I prefer to refrigerate the cake overnight so it stays moist, is firmer, and not quite so fluffy. Alternatively, you can wrap and freeze the cake.
Frosting
- In the bowl of a mixer beat butter smooth so it’s light and fluffy.
- Then add the powdered sugar and heavy cream or milk, and mix on high until whipped and smooth.
- separate the frosting into 4 bowls and color the frosting leaving some white, one red, and one or two blue (one light and one dark).
- Decide how many piping tips you’ll use and fill the piping bags fitted with piping tips.
- Start with the largest piping tip (mine was the 2D tip and white frosting) and make the rose shares then add dollops of the remaining colors randomly around the cake until it’s covered completely.
Notes
This cake came out so pretty, I am so glad your told me what tips to use, my cake looked almost as pretty as yours!!! My piping skills have improved so much and I just love piping on cakes now.
I didn’t make the patriotic cake but I used the cake recipe and the frosting recipe, I actually made cupcakes and they turned out amazing, best I’ve ever tasted! The frosting was perfect for piping! Thanks for this recipe 😊
Where is your fluted baking dish from? Do you have a link?
I purchases the pan at home goods but found a similar item on Amazon (3pan set) here https://amzn.to/3VHk1NK