4th of July Bundt Cake

Red White and Blue Cake

When coming up with 4th of July cake ideas, people often make the super popular American Flag Cake (made with white cake mix). But if you want to change things up, I highly recommend this Patriotic Bundt Cake.

Honestly, y'all know summer is not my favorite time of year. But since I always try to find the good in any season (even if it's 100 degrees outside with 100% humidity), the "good" in summer is all the fresh fruit and an opportunity to make a festive cake with vibrant colors! Nothing is more festive than this red white and blue dessert!

And it's not only a July 4th cake. I think this weekend I'm going to make one and call it a Memorial Day Cake.

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Why You'll Love this Red White and Blue Bundt Cake

• Easy to Serve. When making a July 4th dessert, you often need to feed a crowd and you want it to be easy to serve. Nothing is easier than a bundt cake!
• No Fancy Ingredients. Except for the patriotic sprinkles and the fresh fruit, anyone who bakes regularly is already going to have all of the ingredients on hand for this cake (or be able to get them easily at any grocery store).
• Festive, Patriotic, and Delicious! The red white and blue vanilla cake on the inside combined with the cream cheese glaze, fresh fruit and fun sprinkles make this one of my favorite 4th of July cake recipes.

Tools Needed

• bundt cake pan
• mixing bowl
• electric mixer (hand mixer)

Ingredients:

These ingredients are all very basic pantry ingredients for any baker - except for maybe the patriotic sprinkles and the fresh fruit!

For the Pound Cake

• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• Red food coloring (I prefer gel food coloring)
• Blue food coloring 

For the Glaze: 

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 Toppings:

• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Red, White and Blue Sprinkles
• Mint leaves (optional)

Substitutions

Cream Cheese Glaze: if you want to skip the cream cheese glaze, you can use any white frosting in it's place including homemade buttercream, cream cheese frosting, or canned frosting. If using any of these, you may need to microwave the frosting for a few seconds in the microwave to make it soft enough to spread over the cake.

How to Make a 4th of July Bundt Cake

This red white and blue bundt cake has quite a few steps but let me tell you - it's worth it! Not only is it delicious, but it's such a beautiful pound cake with vibrant red, white, and blue colors inside and out.

It will be the star 4th of July dessert at your barbeque or party! 

4th of July Cake

1. Preheat oven to 325º.
2. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
4. In a separate large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs, and vanilla.
6.  Add one third of flour mixture, and mix until smooth. 
7. Add half of the milk, and mix until smooth, then repeat with a second third of flour, then remaining milk, then remaining flour, and mix until smooth. This is a lot of batter, so if you’re using a deep bowl like the one shown, you may want to use a spoon, or rubber spatula, etc. to stir batter up from the bottom and make sure it’s all mixed evenly.

Red White and Blue Cake

1. Divide the batter into three separate bowls. I used about ⅓ of batter for each color, you can customize this if you prefer.
2. In one bowl, add about half an ounce of no-taste red coloring, and stir until fully incorporated to make the red cake batter.
3. In a second bowl, add about 35 drops of liquid blue food coloring, or ¼ oz. Wilton royal blue, and stir to fully combine. Add more or less of colorings as you prefer.
4. Spoon batter into a prepared bundt pan, alternating colors of the red, white and blue batter.
5. Use a butter knife or icing spatula to swirl batter a few times around the pan for a marbled effect.
6. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 85-90 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven and let the cake cool for 10 minutes.
8. Loosen the cake from the sides of pan with a butter knife or icing spatula, and turn onto a cooling rack (or wire rack) to finish cooling.

Cream Cheese Glaze

1.  When the cake has cooled to room temperature, whisk glaze ingredients together in a small bowl. It should be thin enough to glop off of your spoon, but not so thin that it will run down the side of the cake and pool onto the plate.

Decorating a July 4th Cake

1.  Spoon or pour the glaze over cake. Use the back of a spoon to sort of push the icing down the sides a little bit, and encourage a dripped look.
2. Arrange strawberries and blueberries over the cake, and sprinkle with sprinkles. You can also add some mint or strawberry leaves.

Pro Tips

Start with a Well Prepared Pan! Bundt cakes are notorious for sticking so no matter what kind of pan you're using, be sure to prep your bundt cake pan very well. Coat the inside with vegetable oil, shortening or butter (using a paper towel to get into any crevices), then shake flour inside to coat it well. You can also spray with Baker's Joy or homemade cake release.

Use No-Taste Red Food Coloring. Red gel food coloring is known to have a bitter taste so if you can fine the no-taste kind, your cake will taste better!

Glaze a Cool Cake. You need to let the cake completely cool before adding the glaze. Otherwise, it will melt and pool on the cake plate or cake board below.

Test With a Toothpick. Oven temperatures vary, so begin checking the cake with a toothpick after one hour and 10 minutes. If it's getting too dark on top but the inside is not done, cover it loosely with foil for the final baking time.

Serving Suggestions

This cake is perfect on its own but you could certainly serve it with more fruit, ice cream, or fresh whipped cream.

You can serve this easy dessert for any summer celebration or all of your patriotic holidays including a 4th of July celebration, Memorial Day weekend or a Labor Day party. 

Storage Directions

Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. You can also cover it in plastic wrap if that's easier. It also keeps just fine at room temperature for the day but the cream cheese glaze does need to go in the fridge overnight.

Freezer: If you want to bake ahead for Independence Day, this cake can be frozen before or after adding the glaze. I prefer to wrap it tightly in several layers of plastic wrap and freeze it before adding the glaze, but if you've already glazed it, you may also want to put it into a box because the glaze will not freeze hard and can be damaged in the freezer if it's pressed against anything.