The Best American Flag Sheet Cake Recipe
How to Make an American Flag Cake with Strawberries and Blueberries
This is my all-time favorite American flag sheet cake recipe. In fact, this may be one of my most favorite cake recipes ever!
Of course, flag cake is perfect for 4th of July or any other patriotic occasion. This particular cake is a requirement for us every year! I love this cake recipe so much though that I think it is perfect for any BBQ, party, or gathering.
Also, you don’t have to make it look like a flag! Just make sure there are plenty of people to share it with though or you may want to eat the whole thing yourself. Trust me, eating it all yourself is not a good idea. 😉
Serving Size
This sheet cake easily serves 24 with 3-inch square pieces, but you can make it go even further if you cut the pieces smaller.
The Best Vanilla Sheet Cake!
So what is it that makes this sheet cake so special? Well, the cake part of this recipe reminds me of a pound cake and a sugar cookie crust in one – it is buttery, dense, and moist. Yep, not just some average sheet cake here. I could eat it all day long.
Thick Cream Cheese Frosting!
The frosting is thick and creamy, with a whole lot of cream cheese and butter! It isn’t overly sweet and goes perfectly with the cake. Adding fresh fruit takes it over the top!
Tip: You can use clear vanilla extract in white frosting to keep it more white.
Designing the American Flag
Use a toothpick, or something similar, to mark the design of your flag on the frosted cake. Fresh blueberries for the blue and sliced or diced strawberries for the red.
Use a small or medium star tip to pipe the frosting on the blueberries for a star design. And the same tip or a large open round tip to pipe the frosting for the stripes. Nothing too complicated here, but it sure looks pretty!
An angled spatula makes spreading so much easier and faster!
Conclusion
Make this cake for your next party! It is oh so delicious with fresh strawberries or raspberries, and probably any other of your favorite fruits.
You could make it on Valentine’s Day and place the berries in a heart shape. Or, you could even write out a family members name in fruit for a birthday.
Treat it like a sheet cake fruit pizza! There are plenty of creative ways to use this vanilla sheet cake recipe.
P.S. Reduce the recipe ingredients by half to make it in a 9×13 pan.
More 4th of July Recipes:
- Honey Lime Fruit Salad Recipe
- The BEST Baby Back Ribs Recipe (Baked and Grilled)
- Cheesy Spinach Burgers Recipe
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The Best American Flag Sheet Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake:
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- ¾ cup sour cream room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
Frosting:
- 21 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 pound cream cheese room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- fresh blueberries and sliced fresh strawberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Butter and flour an 18x13x1.5-inch sheet pan, or spray with a nonstick baking spray.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric or stand mixer on high speed, until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs, two at a time until incorporated. Then mix in the sour cream and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir until smooth.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until just combined. Do not over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spatula.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and cake is golden brown. Let the cake cool to room temperature.
- For the frosting, combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Spread about 2/3 of the frosting on top of the cooled cake. Use a toothpick to outline the flag on the frosted cake.
- Fill the upper left corner with blueberries. Use sliced or diced strawberries for the red stripes. Fill a pastry bag with a star tip with the remaining frosting and pipe the white stripes between the rows of strawberries. Pipe the stars between the blueberries.
- Cut into squares and serve. Refrigerate leftovers.
Having read that the cake may overflow, I modified the ingredients to to be 2/3 of their original value(18 tbsp of butter became 12tbsp, for example). This made it fit my Nordic half sheet pan perfectly with no overflow. I also cut the frosting recipe by the same portion, but used 3cups of powdered sugar and folded in about 6 Oz (what was left in an open package) of Cool Whip before I spread it. (This amount worked for me because I didn’t plan to hold any back for additional piping in).
Turned out great!
Glad it turned out so well for you! Thanks for sharing how you reduced the recipe too.