Description
This festive Red White and Blue Cake is the perfect dessert for 4th of July celebrations, Memorial Day or Labor Day! From-scratch vanilla cake with cream cheese glaze, fresh fruit, and patriotic sprinkles for a perfect 4th of July Bundt Cake.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Cake
- 3 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- Red 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)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325ºF.
- Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs, and vanilla.
- Add one third of flour mixture, and mix until smooth.
- Add half 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 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.
- Separate the batter into three different bowls. I used about ⅓ of batter for each color, you can customize this if you prefer.
- In one bowl, add about half an ounce of no-taste red coloring, and stir until fully incorporated.
- In another 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.
- Spoon batter into prepared bundt pan, alternating colors.
- Use a butter knife or icing spatula to swirl batter a few times around the pan for a marbled effect.
- Place in the center of the oven and bake for 85-90 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
- Loosen cake from sides of pan with a butterknife or icing spatula, and turn onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
- When cake is cool, whisk icing ingredients together. 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.
- Spoon 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.
- Arrange strawberries and blueberries over cake, and sprinkle with sprinkles. You can also add some mint or strawberry leaves.
Notes
- 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.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 90
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
