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Red White and Blue Layer Cake

Everyone will love fantastic, patriotic Red, White, and Blue Layer Cake! It is the perfect dessert for all those summer holidays and barbecues. This easy cake starts with a cake mix and gets frosted with a decadently delicious homemade buttercream and decorated with festive sprinkles and cherries. Sure to be a hit at all your parties.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword 4th of July cake, 4th of July dessert, red white blue cake
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
chill time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Calories 726kcal
Author Eileen Kelly

Equipment

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

Buttercream Frosting Ingredients

  • 2 cups unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 pounds confectioners sugar 7½ cups
  • maraschino cherries, garnish
  • red, white, and blue sprinkles, garnish

Instructions

Prepare the cake

  • Preheat your oven to 350°F/176.66°C. Spray 3 8-inch round cake pans with cooking spray. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment or a large bowl use a hand mixer with beaters attached to combine the 2 cake mixes, egg whites, oil, and water, until combined.
  • Evenly divide your batter between 3 bowls.
  • Put the red food coloring in one bowl of batter and the blue food coloring in a second bowl. Just a few drops of each to get your desired shade.
  • Pour the red batter into one of the prepared 8-in round pans, then the blue in another, and the white batter into the third pan.
  • Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of each cake comes out clean.
  • Let the cakes cool in their pans for 5 minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. When the cakes are completely cool it is time to make the buttercream.

Buttercream Frosting

  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddles attached, or a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer with beaters attached, cream the butter and confectioners sugar, and beat until light and fluffy.  If you have a hard time getting the frosting to a fluffy consistency you can add a tablespoon of water or milk at a time until you get your desired consistency.
  • Place the red layer on the cake plate and spoon a bit of the frosting in the middle and spread it out.
  • Stack the white layer on top of the red, add frosting to the top of the white layer and repeat with the blue layer.
  • Once your layers are stacked, finish completely frosting the cake with the buttercream.
  • I like to take the remaining buttercream and place it into a piping bag and pipe around the edges and top.
  • Add sprinkles and maraschino cherries to decorate the edges of the cake.
  • Place the cake into the refrigerator for at least an hour to chill and set up.
  • Slice and serve!

Notes

Be sure to check Expert Tips and FAQs above with important tips and questions that can help make a delicious recipe.
 
Storage: This cake is best served the day it is made but can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
 
Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 726kcal | Carbohydrates: 109g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 81mg | Sodium: 317mg | Potassium: 63mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 91g | Vitamin A: 945IU | Calcium: 101mg | Iron: 1mg