Since I’ll still be on vacation (follow me on twitter and you’ll get to hear all about what we’re doing) on the 4th, I won’t be cooking a darn thing. But if you are partying on Wednesday, make this cake! You’ll be so glad you did.
From July 4, 2011:
In honor of the 4th, here is the BEST flag cake you’ll ever eat. It’s not the quickest or easiest to make (there isn’t any cool whip or instant pudding involved), but it’s the one you’ll want to take to your 4th of July party. I had 6 little hands helping me decorate mine, and I was wracking my brain to answer all the questions about how many stars and stripes are really on the flag and what they all mean, all with a pastry bag in hand, so yours will be more perfect, I’m sure. I should have brushed up on my American history before we started the cake….
This is a Barefoot Contessa Recipe, but Pioneer Woman did a step by step a while back. If you need more direction, go there.
For the cake:
2 1/4 sticks butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup sour cream (not low fat, Jeffrey wouldn’t like that, now would he?)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
For the frosting:
3- 8 oz packages cream cheese
4 sticks butter
1 pound powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 pint blueberries
2 pints raspberries
Cake:
In a mixing bowl, mix butter and sugar together on high until light and fluffy, about a minute or so. Add eggs, two at a time. Mix after each addition. Add sour cream and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, kosher salt and baking soda. Turn mixer to low and gradually add flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture, one scoop at a time. Mix after every addition. Keep adding the flour mixture, mix until just combined. Do not overmix!
Grease and flour a 17 x 12 1/2-inch sheet cake pan.
Pour the thick cake batter into the pan. (It’s much thicker than regular cake batters.) With a knife or offset spatula, spread the cake batter evenly over the pan.
Place the pan into a preheated 350-degree oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. I baked mine for exactly 20 minutes, so you probably want to start checking then.
To make the cream cheese frosting, in a mixing bowl, add softenedcream cheese and butter. Whip to combine. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined, scraping the sides once during mixing.
Put about 1/2 the frosting on the cake. Mark off the area of the stars with a toothpick. Prepare a pastry bag with a large star tip and fill up to 2/3 with icing. Fold down both corners to keep icing from splurging out the top.
Gripping the folded-down end tightly under fingertips and start squeezing two lines of frosting at the bottom of the cake. Make two rows of raspberries on the cake, then add another two lines of frosting.
Keep repeating: two lines of frosting, two lines of raspberries, two lines of frosting, etc.
Fill the square in the corner with a nice layer of blueberries. With the star tip, squeeze little dollops of frosting all over the blueberries.
