Memorial Day Flag Cake

Still keeping with the Memorial Day theme I thought I would make a flag cake, and I have to say… how cool is this flag cake?!  I wish I could take credit for the concept of this cake but Elissa from 17 and Baking got this idea from her dad a couple years ago.  Thanks for sharing Elissa!  

I will post the recipe that I used for the cake and cream cheese frosting soon.  Please email me if you would like it sooner but you can use any ol’ white cake recipe that you like.  You can even use a boxed cake mix.  UPDATE:  Click HERE for the Three Layer White Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting recipes.

After you have your preferred batter prepared, divide the batter into thirds.  Dye one-third of the batter red, one-third of the batter blue and just leave the last one-third of batter as is.  Make sure to stir the food coloring in well to avoid any streaks.  I like to use gel food coloring because it will not water down the batter.  Bake each of the thirds in their own 9” round pan to end up with 3 cakes, one red, one white and one blue.

After the cakes have cooled completely, you will need to level all three cakes.  Leveling is cutting off the “hump” that some times form on the top of the cakes while baking.  Next, cut the red and the white cake in half horizontally making the top and bottom into two equal layers.  Do not cut the blue cake in half!

Place one white cake layer onto a cake base or plate.  Frost the top of the white cake layer and top with a red cake layer.  Frost the top of the red cake layer.  Set aside.

Place an overturned bowl with about a 6 1/2” circumference on top of the blue cake.  You will want to keep the 2” outer rim of the blue cake.  Using a serrated knife, cut around the bowl and place the 2” outer rim on top the stack of cakes that you had set aside from above. 

Place the last white cake layer onto a plate.  Frost the top of the layer and top with the last red cake layer.  Place the same overturned bowl on top of the white and red layers that you just stacked and cut around the bowl just as you did with the blue layer.  This time keep the inner circle of the white and red cake and place it into the outer rim of the blue rim to complete the third layer.   

The blue inner circle and the white and red outer ring are leftovers.  You can take a break, grab a glass of milk and eat them up!  

Ok, now that your break is over you can finish frosting your 3 layer cake!  I like to leave the cake nice and white.  This makes for a great surprise when the cake is cut since it has no tell-tale signs that it is a red, white and blue cake.  You’ll get a lot of ooo’s and ahh’s I promise!

Now isn’t that a cool surprise?!  This is definitely not your ordinary flag cake topped with  blueberries and strawberries.