A classic American flag cake made with a cream cheese sheet cake and light cream cheese whipped frosting. This is a perfect 4th of July cake topped with fresh berries and, if you’re feeling particularly Texan, decorated as the Texas flag.
It turns out, the amount of GIANT Texas flags that dot the interstate across Houston are contagious. The Texas flag is as iconic as my old school pound cake recipe so it only made sense to join the two.
Just in time for the 4th of July extra long holiday weekend, here’s one of my favorite July desserts – cake, whipped cream, and fresh summer berries.
Here’s how!
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this Texas-style 4th of July Cake:
• unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (lots of it)
• cream cheese, also softened
• fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries
• large eggs
• granulated sugar
• vanilla extract and almond extract if you’re into that sort of thing
• baking powder
• kosher salt
• powdered sugar
• heavy cream
Place softened butter, cream cheese, and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
Beat for 5 to 7 minutes to aerate and fluff the fats with the sugar. Add a splash of vanilla and a splash of almond extract. Almond extract MAKES a cake in my opinion.
Beat in eggs, one at a time for about a minute between each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl every so often. Incorporating the eggs slowly like this will help make the cake light and tender so don’t rush.
Whisk together the dry ingredients before slowly beating into the butter and cream cheese mixture. Give it a good whip and scrape the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to find any hidden unmixed pockets.
Spoon the cake batter into a greased and parchment lined pan. Spread the batter in an even layer with a offset spatula. It’s a thick and rich batter. It’s giving luxury. It’s giving wealth.
Bake the cake in the upper third of the oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs (not wet batter).
This is a dense pound cake style sheet cake that won’t dome but will bake to a gorgeous crackly golden top.
While the cake bakes, we’ll make the most light and fluffy cream cheese frosting. This frosting is a mix between thick cream cheese frosting and sweetened whipped cream. Cream cheese stabilizes whipped cream and whipped cream lightened cream cheese. It’s a perfect compliment for this sturdy cake.
You can leave this cake in the pan to frost and decorate, especially if you’re taking it to a party. If you want to serve it on a board, lift the cake from the pan, scoot it off the parchment paper, and swoop with frosting.
Decorating the cake with fresh berries is my favorite part. If you’re going Texan, cut a star shape out of the cake before frosting. Frost the cake, divide it into thirds and layer cake with blue berries, red berries, and banana slices.
If you’re going for an American flag cake, you know how to make it a whole stars and stripes situation.
Tips for assembling your 4th of July cake:
Frost and chill the cake until you’re ready to serve (or ready to head to a barbecue). Just before serving, layer with berries and bananas and rechill before serving. I think this cake is best served chilled.
The flavor is simple, sweet and summery. A very fresh 4th of July moment. And what would a slice of cake be without a few fireworks?
If you’re more of a boxed cake mix babe, you can make a similarly festive cake using this coconut cake recipe or this strawberry cake. No wrong answers.
Leave any questions or cake comments below and we love when you rate the recipe after you bake it! Happy Baking, friends! xo
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The (Texas) Flag Cake made with Cream Cheese Pound Cake and Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 1/2 cups (360 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3 cups (600 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- A tiny splash of almond extract
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
For the Topping:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup (75 grams) powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups heavy cream, cold
- Fresh raspberries
- Fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced into rounds
- Fresh blueberries
- Fresh blackberries, sliced in half in big boys
- Bananas, sliced into thickish diagonals
Instructions
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch pan. Cut a piece of parchment paper that fits in the pan lengthwise with a few inches of overhang to make the cake easier to lift out of the pan if you’d like. Lightly grease the parchment paper, too.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter, cream cheese, and sugar on medium speed. Beat until fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Stop the mixer occasionally and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase speed to medium-high for 1 minute or so. Beat in the vanilla and splash of almond extract.
- On low speed, beat the eggs into the batter one at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition.
- Stop the mixer and add the dry ingredients all at once. Beat on low speeds until the flour just disappears. Stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape into the bottom of the bowl to incorporate any hidden pockets of unmixed batter or flour.
- Whip the batter for 45-60 seconds on medium-high speed on the mixer just to fully incorporate the batter.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth to an even layer.
- Bake until the cake is golden and puffed, until a cake skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, 60-65 minutes. Rotate the cake once during baking.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
- Make the frosting while the cake cools. To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, addd softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and salt. Beat on medium speed to soften the cream cheese further and incorporate the ingredients. Stop the mixer and bang the whisk on the side of the bowl to empty the whisk, and scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to mix to thoroughly soften the cream cheese.
- With the mixer on medium speed, slowly add the heavy cream to the mixer. As the mixture starts to thicken, stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl the sides of the bowl before beating on high speed to soft but stiff peaks.
- To assemble the cake, decide if you’re going to keep the cake in the pan or serve it outside of the pan. Carefully lift the cake out if you’ve chosen that journey. If you’re making a Texas flag, use a star shaped cookie cutter to cut a star out of the left side of the cake and lift the star out. Spoon most of the frosting in heaps across the cake and swoosh with an offset spatula. Reserve some of the frosting to pipe stars across the cake.
- Chill the cake and top the cake with berries close to serving.
- For the blue section of the flag, layer blueberries and blackberries. Top with the star and a few stars of frosting.
- For the red section, layer raspberries and strawberries and top with a few stars of frosting.
- For the white section (I do this just before serving the cake), layer with banana slices and a few stars of frosting.
- Enjoy cake chilled.
Amy
This is absolutely delicious. I made it for my Mom’s birthday early in July and am making it again today, just because.
★★★★★
Debbie H
I used the coconut cake option (just used less coconut) and it was Delicious!!! I did the Texas State Flag for this July 4th since I live in Texas. Yee Haw! Anyway it was a Huge Hit with my Family and so Yummy!!! I’m doing this again and maybe as a layer cake next time. It reminds me of a Chantilly Cake, but better. Awesome Recipe!!!
★★★★★
Denisa
My grandmother always said that the first step to enjoying a meal is to appreciate its visual appeal (aka. eat it with your eyes.) If it looks delicious, then proceed to savor it with your taste buds. I must admit, this cake appears incredibly tempting, and I’m eagerly looking forward to preparing it on Monday! :)
★★★★★
Lois
Looks yummy. The list of ingredients at the top doesn’t include bananas. Also, how long can banana slices sit around before they start turning brown? Can you rinse them in lemon juice/water to prevent that, the way you can apple slices?
Paula Deemer
I have not made this cake yet because 3 cups of sugar seems like an awful lot of sugar to make a cake. Has anybody followed this recipe because I’m not wasting all that sugar
★★★
Joy the Baker
This is the correct amount of sugar, Paula.
Seana
What a fun cake idea! I am so here for this H?E?B and Aggie loving honorary Texan Joy The Baker era. It warms my (slightly overheated) Texan heart right up!
Alisa
Could this recipe be baked into
cupcakes instead of a sheet cake?