American Flag Cake Recipe

Written by
Stephanie Gallagher
Stephanie Gallagher is a journalist and food writer who has authored multiple cookbooks.
Learn about our editorial process
Stephanie Gallagher
Published on 06/11/19 by Stephanie Gallagher
Stephanie Gallagher is a journalist and food writer who has authored multiple cookbooks.
Learn about The Spruce Eats's Editorial Process

Updated 06/11/19

Flag cake
Richard Eskite Photography/Getty Images
  • Total: 65 mins
  • Prep: 25 mins
  • Cook: 40 mins
  • cooling time: 2 hrs
  • Yield: 1 Cake (24 Servings)
Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)
157 Calories
11g Fat
7g Carbs
8g Protein
See Full Nutritional Guidelines Hide Full Nutritional Guidelines
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1 Cake (24 Servings)
Amount per serving
Calories 157
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 11g 14%
Saturated Fat 7g 33%
Cholesterol 27mg 9%
Sodium 415mg 18%
Total Carbohydrate 7g 3%
Dietary Fiber 1g 2%
Protein 8g
Calcium 246mg 19%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Your friends will be impressed by this patriotic dessert recipe for Memorial Day or the Fourth of July. This flag cake starts with a cake mix, so it's easy to make, but of course, you can always substitute your favorite homemade cake recipe. Do be sure to use fresh blueberries and raspberries; otherwise, the juice from frozen berries will create a red and blue mess! 

Ingredients

  • 18 1/4 ounces vanilla cake mix
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 9 ounce frozen whipped topping (slightly thawed)
  • 3 tablespoon powdered sugar
  • 1 pint blueberries
  • 1 to 2 pints raspberries

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Prepare cake in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, according to package directions.

  3. Let cake cool 15 minutes, then invert onto a serving platter to cool completely. Freeze cake while you prepare the frosting (this makes the flag cake easier to frost).

  4. With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, whipped topping, and powdered sugar until smooth.

  5. Frost flag cake with this frosting.

  6. To decorate your flag cake, outline a square in the top left corner with blueberries. Fill in with remaining blueberries, leaving some white space showing through. These are the stars on your flag cake.

  7. Make several lines of raspberries next to and below the blueberries. These are the stripes of your flag cake. Refrigerate flag cake until ready to serve.

  8. Serve and enjoy!

    Tips

    • If your frosting seems a bit runny, freeze the cake 15 to 45 minutes before adding the berries. Then you can either freeze the flag cake until 2 hours before serving (leave it out to thaw) or refrigerate until ready to serve.
    • Vanilla cake mix is a great option, but if you prefer you can use a white or yellow cake mix
    • Another option for this impressive cake is a patriotic poke cake. After baking the cake, poke holes and insert the berries. That way, every slice of the cake has a patriot look and a delicious, berry-infused flavor.
    • It's a lot of fun decorating with fruit, and you can create a range of unique designs for your patriotic cake. For example, rather than the classic American flag you might want to create a reproduction of the original flag as it appeared at the founding of the nation!
    • A great way to dress up your cake and draw attention to it is to place sparklers on it when it's time to serve it up. Light the sparklers and sing Happy Birthday to the United States!