American Flag Cake

Absolute best show-stopping cake I have ever served! My guests were so impressed that they didn't want to cut into it- but they did and the taste was superb! Moist, colorful and just extraordinary for a patriotic holiday. If there is any down-side, it is the amount of time to prepare since you must not only make the 4 cake layers but also cut and mold and frost in-between various shapes and decorate the top... but it was ALL worth it. Serve it and they will never want anything else again, guaranteed. I used another recipe from this site, Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting, and it was perfect for binding everything in place, not overpowering the cake and also providing a cool touch for those summer-time barbeques. Just be sure you have the CLEAR vanilla extract- the other will turn the cake yellow and ruin the presentation. Did I mention I LOVE this?

The first item of the ingredient list: 3 (10.25 ounce) packages white cake mix was confusing to me. There are NO 10.25 ounce packages of cake mix in the supermarket, so I measured out 3 x 10.25 ounces of cake mix. Had I reviewed the back of the packages, I would have realized that the 10.25 ounce notation was incorrect. It should read 16.25 ounce. The liquid measurements agreed with the use of the 3 16.25 ounce cake mixes. As a result, lots of crumbling, falling, and mess. The finished cake looked awful as a whole, but cut into beautiful layers. Next time, I will use ALL the cake mixes and not fixate on the weight of the flour mix.

This cake is time consuming but WORTH IT! The presentation is so impressive and a crowd pleaser. I went with other suggestions and left the cake plain white on the outside with simple piping and some white sugar glitter with a few white chocolate chips sprinkled on top and two small American flags that I crossed and had standing in the cake. So when it is sliced... Wow! My tips for baking. I didn't have clear vanilla so I left it out until I divided and colored the batter and used my regular vanilla in the colored batter and I used almond extract in the white portion. Also I freeze the white chocolate chips then toss them in flour before adding them in the blue batter. You will see the stars. Lastly after i bake the layers and they are still hot. Using a pot holder to protect my hand, I press the cake firmly into the pans. This evens out the layers and makes them more dense which makes them easier to slice after they have cooled. They will still be very moist. I used a cream cheese frosting for the middle and I used a whipped cooked buttercream frosting for the outside. Definitely use parchment paper for baking and put your layers cut side down to make frosting easier. The flavor was great and it's a very delicious cake! I have already received requests for next year. Loved it!

I frosted this cake with the Fluffy White Frosting recipe that I found on this site. I did not add any embellishments to the frosting because I wanted the effect of cutting a solid white cake and revealing the flag inside. Make sure you cool the cakes until they are stone cold before attempting to cut them in pieces. If they are at all warm the cakes will crumble and break. This cake was a hit at the Fourth of July family and friends picnic. I presented it with four sparklers poked into the top and lit as I carried it out to the table!

This cake is absolutely stunning. It takes a lot of time and requires patience, but well worth the effort. I used white chocolate frosting between the layers and butter cream frosting for the sides and top. My rating is for the creative idea, NOT the cake recipe. The cake part of the recipe will leave you scratching your head and a notepad full of scribbles trying to figure out how to adjust. First, I could not find a 10.25 oz cake mix which left me wondering if there was a error when this got published. So, I watched the video and it couldn’t be more vague. It skips over the recipe only saying to use 3 boxes of cake mix and follow the directions on the back of the box. Easy enough, but that’s not the written recipe because the written version clearly modifies the box instructions. My advice is to use your favorite white cake recipe or mix and make 2-8" red cakes, 1 blue, and 1 white and use this recipe for the assembly instructions.

I skipped the white cake and did all red, the cream cheese frosting acts as the white stripe, I think it looks much better this way. The stars didn't come out for me, next time I'll use pine nuts or something....

This is NOT an easy cake, but WOW the end result was AMAZING. A few words of advice: I skipped the white chocolate chips after watching the video, they didn't have the desired effect for me. Clear vanilla extract is hard to find, so I substituted a little almond extract and a little orange extract...clear extracts that I had on hand. The cake was still fantastic, and I actually enjoyed the little orange touch. I was so surprised at how much food coloring I needed...much more than the recipe called for. I was lucky and had some on hand but make sure you buy more than you think you'd have to. I found that when cutting the cake, it was best to use some sort of guide to balance the knife on. It was far too easy to go off course. Store bought frosting was overly sweet and hard to spread when I made the cake the first time, so I decided to make whipped cream and frost the cake with that instead. Not only was it delicious and not too sweet, it was also easy to spread and sturdy. I found it more dramatic not to do anything with the outside of the cake. It makes it more exciting when you cut into it! Finally, when you're done with the cake, store it somewhere safe using toothpicks as needed...the cake is prone to cracking and crumbling and parts of it can even crumble off!

Bought three 16 ounce boxes of Duncan Hines moist white cake mix. The "six" on the package looks like a zero, and I could not find a 10.5 ounce box. Anyway, I used one box for the white layers, half a box for the blue layer and one and a half boxes for the red layers. I expected to trim quite a bit to achieve even layers. It was more of a challenge than I thought it would be. Used regular liquid food color. Went to the store to buy more, because you need A LOT to get just the right colors. The batter was several un-Godly colors, until I reached the shades of red and blue that I wanted. Reynolds parchment paper kept the cakes from sticking. I would make this cake again, and I love the idea of serving it with lighted sparklers. What a fun and festive holiday dessert!

Very clever idea, and worth the work. Do use paste food coloring. Your cake won't crumble as much, and it is very vivid. Christmas Red is perfect. I too omitted the white layers, used a thick cream cheese frosting for my white, and froze the white chocolate chips beforehand. Stunning cake!

A lot of work - but the end result is worth it. I am terrible at trying to divide a lot of batter equally into cake pans, so I measured - mixing the ingredients exactly as the recipe states gives approximately 12 cups of batter - 6 cups of red and 3 each of white and blue. I used store bought frosting - wasn't sure how much I would need (10 cups seemed like a lot!). I ended up using 3 tubs of store bought. I crumbled the extra cakes and used them to decorate the top as the video shows - it turned out very cute!

This cake turned out beautifully! Instead of the fancy decoration on the outside, though, I just covered it with plain white Wilton recipe icing. That made the inside that much more of a surprise! I got so many compliments on this cake last year I will definitely be making it again for the 4th.

This was not easy but it was yummy and my 4th of July guest now are calling me Martha.

When I took the cakes out of the pans it started to crumble and after I iced it, it totally fell apart. I would try it again because the part of it that wasn't a mess looked really cool and I'm determined to get it right.

The cake was literally falling apart when I was assembling it, it was so crumbly. I had to freeze it overnight, so it would keep the shape. It did help and I managed to slice it okay. It tasted really good, but did not look that pretty.

Well, it was OK... ish. The idea is a great one, but I agree with everyone else- it's definitely not easy. If you trim the cakes, I'd recommend trimming them on the bottom, so that the top is still smooth and you can spread the icing. Also, I don't know if this was just me, but the red cake (which I used almost an entire bottle of red food coloring in) didn't rise... At all. I tried adding a little baking powder to the next one, and it rose fine, but maybe it was just the brand I was using...? Anyway, it was cool. I got stressed and kind of ruined it, but I think with a little more patience it could turn out great! You should definitely give it a shot.

I made this cake this year for the 4th of July. Everyone loves it but it was difficult to make. It was very crumbly and trying to cut cakes in half to assemble was very difficult. I made this cake vegan and if u want to I would advise you to use white egg replacer to keep the white color.

Loved making this cake! It took quite a long time and a lot of patience, but everyone's reaction to the cake was worth it. Definitely will try making it again next year. Should probably skip the white chocolate chips as they all sank to the bottom of the cake pan.

The cake layers just crumbled apart, especially the blue one. It also didn't help that I hadn't noticed I grabbed "Fluffy Vanilla Marshmallow" frosting.

This was a hit at our family gathering on July 4th.

This is such a labor intensive cake. It turned out well but didn’t look as perfect and professional as I had expected and hoped for. My biggest disappointment is the amount of unused cake that is leftover after the assembly. It’s almost the equivalent of another cake! I wasn’t about to throw it out so I froze all of the different pieces and hubby and I will be eating it for a long time. Because of this, I won’t make it again.

This recipe is not a quick one. It's time consuming and messy but worth it. I bake cakes all the time and my husband says it's the best (ie: most moist) I've ever made. I just used a standard box cake not taking note of the ounce difference in the recipe and it was fine. I used clear mixing bowls after mixing to make the equal amounts to mix my colors in. You'll want gel coloring to get the colors bright enough. Since it is ridiculously moist you'll want to freeze or refrigerate your rounds before working with them. I didn't do this step the first time and it fell apart but I was able to fix it with icing and throwing it back in the fridge. I'm making again tomorrow and I will bake, cool, refrigerate, slice rounds in half or cut the 4" circles then wrap and freeze. Lots of steps, but worth it. It should be much easier to assemble frozen. I use my fave buttercream frosting. After assembling you'll want to do a good crumb coat and then refrigerate for an hour or so then frost to finish. Again... time consuming, but a show stopping cake!

Followed directions to the tea and this is what I got. Think it might have worked if I had left out the chocolate chips. Lot of money and TIME down the drain and no dessert to take to block party. ??

Everything went great until assembling. Long story short every layer crumbled and the cake fell apart. I tried holding the blue layer together with toothpicks but no luck. I ended up tossing everything into a 9x13 casserole dish. I had told my daughter I would bring a patriotic cake, explaining what it would look like. After such a fiasco I called it the Revolutionary War cake! It still tasted great, very moist, and to quote my daughter “cake is cake whatever it looks like “!

What an awesome recipe! And so easy to make with the detailed instructions and video. My 15 year old made this cake for a party. All of the teens were shocked that she was able to make such a fancy cake. -Shirley

I made this cake for the 4th of July and it was awesome! It was really hard not to crumble the cake while layering though, but I managed to save it. The cake was really good with whipped cream frosting and tasted better when refrigerated. All in all a pretty good cake.

I didn't have any trouble re-creating this cake exactly as shown - it was a lot of fun, and I will make it every 4th of July. Every piece you cut looks great, my family loved it!!! What a clever creation

I turned it into a key-lime cake. The cake became dense because of all the stirring of the colored batter. The white cake was the best. I would not add the white chocolate chips. fun for the holiday.

it was good. my mom couldn't eat it because of the food coloring. if you can't eat it because of the food coloring the put in something else that has something to make the color.

This was a beautiful cake. I didn't use the parchment paper as i have never used parchment paper on a cake. However i would recommend it if you do the white choc cola chips in the blue layer. It will stick if you dont. Also the food coloring makes the case look darker so to keep the pretty colors id use parchment paper. Seems like a lot of wasted cake but we like to sample after smelling it cook. The cake was delicious and pretty. It was a hit!

I made this for my little guy's 2nd birthday. He was born on July 1st, so we had a red white and blue themed party this year. Cake turned out beautifully! I used the Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting recipe, as suggested by several other people on this site. Yummy! Everyone was very impressed, so it was well worth the time and effort! (Did I mention that I had to make 2 of these for the party? )

Let's just start with the taste! This cake tasted amazing. If I'm ever in need of mass amounts of yummy cake batter this is going to be my go to recipe for sure! The assemble was simple enough but it did leave a lot of unused cake so that seemed like a bit of a waste. I would suggest planning ahead and making cake balls out of the leftover bits or something. The cake layers fall apart easily so I would suggest using parchment paper to slide each layer onto each other or starting early and freezing the layers after cutting and before assembly to keep them from breaking when layering and icing.

This was definitely a time-consuming endeavor! I haven't decided yet if I'll make it again, but if I do, I'll omit the white chocolate chips--they sank to the bottom of the cake. (I tried mixing them with some flour, since that's worked in other recipes, but it didn't work this time.) There was an awful lot of cake left over after leveling and assembling; it seems like there should be a way to make this recipe without all of the extra cake. I did sprinkle some red and blue crumbs on the top of the cake; the rest of the leftover bits and pieces will be used for a trifle. I frosted the cake with Special Buttercream Frosting from this site. In order to prevent a lot of crumbs from mixing into the frosting, I put the layers cut-side down when assembling the cake. When all was said and done, the cake looked like it was supposed to when it was cut, so at least my hard work paid off!

This recipe is a keeper. Tasted amazing, looked patriotic, and the whole family worked in the kitchen together. You will not be disappointed.

I Love it

This was such a fun cake! It got many compliments. I gave it 4 stars because I had some difficulty moving the cut slices and the white one broke apart. I glued it back together with frosting so it wasn't a total loss. The cake recipe was delicious, very dense but moist - no one believed it was a box cake originally. ( I used Aldi classic white). I crumbled and froze the unused portions of the cake and plan to use them for cake pops. I also didn't have white chocolate chips, so I substituted ghost sprinkles from Halloween. Nobody even noticed ??

Great recipe but it takes time and patience to put together. Well worth it though, for the WOW factor from your friends when you slice into it.

The recipe is good, the cake itself is a treat to look at, and it tastes really good. I did accidentally and intentionally alter the recipe (like the red stripe is purple because I didn't have red food coloring) and yet in the end it turned out amazing.

I’ve made this cake twice using Betty Crocker’s recipe which has strawberries in the red stripes and blueberries in the blue ring. Adds wonderful flavor! Also gets rave reviews. Here’s the link if you want to try https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/red-white-and-blue-layered-flag-cake/9aaef2a0-b01d-4cb8-9bab-c0d0451a1065

My family loved the surprise inside! I watched the video as instructions and then made it my own. I used only 2 prepared boxes of cake, only added the white chips to the top, and made my own almond buttercream icing. Delish and a festive centerpiece of our party yesterday!

It was good

This cake was attractive, tasty and moist! Directions worked fine. It is very similar to a flag cake I have made for a few years, but I will use this recipe again.

This recipe is Amazing!!!!!!! It works very well and is very impressive. I have made it two years in a row for Fourth of July parties. I will continue to make it every year.

This is a really neat idea. I made it for the 4th of July family reunion and the kids went wild. I'm giving it four stars because the visual was really cool but the taste was so-so. I made it with the Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting recommended by others. The frosting was very good but the cake lacked pizzazz in the flavor department. It also has a lot of wastage as written. The next time I'll make this with two boxes of cake mix. There is enough cake in the domes cut off the top to make the 4" circles for the very top. One box made blue and one box made 1/2 red and 1/2 white would do it.

This was not only fun to make but it was delicious! Be prepared to spend time on this one (which i enjoy) and have different color/shaped cakes all over the kitchen while building it. I used a fluffy buttercream to top it and colored casting sugar for sparkle with the cake crumbs to decorate the top, This will have to become a yearly tradition!

This took a lot of work and patience, but it was worth it! The cake tasted moist and delicious, and it looked amazing. Cakes needed more than 30 minutes to bake, and they were put in the freezer to help them cool faster to save time. They were still fragile after they completely cooled, though. But I will definitely be making this again.

I made this cake and it came out absolutely amazing. It does take a bit of work to put together but me being an experienced cake baker I knew how to handle it . Also what I did was I bought one box of super moist white cake mix and instead of coloring remaining white cake mix for the red and blue cakes I bought the Funfetti blue and red cake mix which comes colored already in the perfect shade that you need. I knew it was going to be a lot of work to make it so I used the box cake and pre colored box cake to make it as easy as possible

Great idea.

Great cake and real surprise to my guest when I cut into the cake

I am not a novice to cake making. I have never had a cake fall apart like this one did. Against my better judgement I followed the recipe and used the milk instead of the water suggested on the cake mix. The cake litterally fell apart while trying to assemble it. My husband helped me lift the blue ring to put on top and it broke into pieces before we could get it on the cake. It was so tender. I will however try it again because the slices I could save looked great and I love a challange. All that ate the pieces said it was great. I did take a picture but only to send out to friends saying I had an explosive experience and have a great 4th of July.

Made this for a friend who just moved to the US. This cake is a stunner for sure! It is time consuming, but in the end it looks great. Only gave it four stars because while it is pretty looking it's also pretty one note, and that note is sweet. I think it would be better if instead of using buttercream you used a raspberry curd to cut the sweetness of this cake and give it a sharp, tartness. Doesn't have to be raspberry, could be any red fruit so that it still matches the red stripes of the cake. I didn't decorate the top of it to look like a flag because I wanted it to be a surprise for when you cut into it. All in all good recipe and looks impressive.

Tasted really good with herbs like chocolate mint leaves in the batter.

I made this just as directed and it came out great. It's the most challenging cake I've ever made and it's worth it every time to hear people say,"How'd you do that?"

My son and i made it 2 times. is such a lovely cake. Everyone loves. No changes

Lot of work. I used 9” pans (that’s what I have). Used 4 packages of white cake mix that allows for using all of the egg. 1 pkg in each of the 4 pans. I followed the directions on the cake box. Had to use 2 bottles of food coloring for the blue cake .