There isn’t a more American dessert than a slice of classic Apple Pie Recipe with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream. With that said, there are so many other delicious desserts you can serve on the 4th of July to celebrate American Independence.
Enjoy the fireworks and fun with a little something sweet! Any of our 4th of July desserts are sure to hit the spot.
Why we love them:
Patriotic touch. The red, white, and blue theme of the desserts adds a festive and patriotic element to your Fourth of July celebration!
Seasonal produce. Many of the recipes feature fresh summer fruits, allowing people to enjoy the flavors of the summer season.
Crowd-pleasing. From classic apple pie to colorful Fruit Tarts, these July dessert recipes are sure to add to the joy of the celebration.
Tips for Fourth of July Desserts
How much to make. Make enough for each guest to be able to have 1-2 servings of dessert. Also, plan to have at least 2 dessert choices for every 10 guests.
Once you start adding dessert choices you will only need to make sure there’s enough for people to have two dessert servings and not a piece of each dessert.
Keeping desserts cold when outside. Place desserts in a cooler with ice, or a block of dry ice until you’re ready to serve it.
Only bring out/serve what you will eat and keep the rest in a cooler until needed.
When placing the dessert out on a table, fill a tray/bowl with ice cubes and nestle the dessert right on top.
Make it Festive
Though there is a list of patriotic-colored desserts, you can easily serve other desserts on or in a patriotic-themed dish to make them more festive.
Frosting. Food coloring can make frosting and other white-based desserts 4th of July themed.
Fruit. Red, white, and blue fruits provide the colors of American Independence. I often see fresh berries arranged in the shape of an American flag on top of cakes, pies, cheesecakes, or a simple Fruit Salad Recipe.
Red.strawberry, raspberry, red grapes, or cherries
White. white melon, golden honeydew, banana, sliced apple, sliced pear, or white peaches
Blue.Blueberries, blackberries, or dark purple grapes
Best 4th of July Desserts
Whether it’s a chilled dessert for a hot summer day or a classic American treat, there is a wide variety of options to suit different tastes and occasions.
5 from 32 votes
4th of July Poke Cake Recipe
Cool, light, and refreshing 4th of July Poke Cake is great for summer holidays! It's sure to be a tasty hit.
Bring the stars and stripes or red, white, and blue flair with our favorite patriotic desserts! Make a patriotic Fruit Pizza with a sugar cookie crust or any of these tempting treats.
5 from 32 votes
4th of July Poke Cake Recipe
Cool, light, and refreshing 4th of July Poke Cake is great for summer holidays! It's sure to be a tasty hit.
This Strawberry Shortcake Poke Cake is the perfect cool and refreshing dessert. Yellow cake with strawberry gelatin poked throughout, topped with a delicious whipped topping and fresh strawberries.
No-Bake Cheesecake Bars are just the right amount of sweet, with a buttery graham cracker crust. Top them however you like—fruit, chocolate sauce, or caramel and sea salt!
Frozen Peanut Butter Pie consists of a graham cracker pretzel crust, frozen peanut butter filling, and a chocolate, pretzel, peanut butter cup topping.
Angel Food Ice Cream Cake is creamy, light, & refreshing, made from layers of angel food cake and your favorite ice cream flavor. A scrumptious treat, chilled to frozen dessert perfection!
This luscious Lemon Lush consists of 4 tasty layers, including a Lemon Oreo crust, cream cheese layer, lemon pudding layer and topped with whipped cream!
These classic Lemon Bars are simple, delicious, and sweet, with just the right amount of tart! Add a bit of powdered sugar, and these easy lemon bars are irresistible!
Layers of Golden Oreos, cream cheese, pudding, whipped cream and white chocolate curls make up this DELICIOUS White Chocolate Lasagna that is a hit at every function.
Cool, light, and refreshing 4th of July Poke Cake is great for summer holidays! It’s simple, festive and delicious!
Because we love Jello Poke Cake so much, we knew we wanted to make a patriotic version for some of our favorite holidays.
Here is the recipe:
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70+ 4th of July Desserts
By: Lil’ Luna
Whether you're hoping to serve something patriotic or a cold dessert, this round up has all the best 4th of July Desserts!
Servings: 9
Prep: 15 minutesmins
Cook: 27 minutesmins
Chill: 3 hourshrs15 minutesmins
Total: 3 hourshrs57 minutesmins
Prevent your screen from going dark
Ingredients
1boxWhite Cake Mix,plus ingredients on the back of the box
1cupwater
1 (3-ounce)boxCherry Jell-O
1 (3-ounce)boxBerry Blue Jell-O
2cupsboiling water
2cupswater,cold
1tubcool whip,large
Instructions
Prepare box cake mix batter as directed on box. Pour into greased 9-inch round pans. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake 27-30 minutes, remove from oven and let cook for 15 minutes.
Using the end of a fork, poke cake every ½ inch, over both cake rounds.
Bring to boil 1 cup of water in small pot. Pour cherry Jell-o in water, stir until Jell-o is dissolved. Add 1 cup cold water, and mix well. Spoon liquid over cakeChill for 3-4 hours.
Repeat process with the berry blue Jell-O. Bring to boil 1 cup of water in small pot. Pour blue Jell-o in water, stir until Jell-o is dissolved. Add 1 cup cold water, and mix well. Spoon liquid over cakeChill for 3-4 hours.
Remove cakes from refrigerator. To get the cake out, turn pans over, then place on cake stand. Place blue layer down first, spread with whip cream, then place red cake on top, and top with cool whip. Chill until set.Optional- top with red and blue sprinkles.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious Desserts for the 4th!
We hope you’ll love this list of delicious desserts for the 4th of July as much as we do and they are sure to make your holiday get-together extra special!
Kristyn Merkley is a published cookbook author, wife, mom of six, and major food enthusiast! For the past 15 years, she has been sharing foolproof, family-friendly recipes—each one tested in her kitchen—that anyone can master. As a seasoned recipe creator, she loves making cooking simple, stress-free, and totally doable for everyone!
Hi Kristyn!
First of all, love all of your recipes!
I was looking for some 4th of July dessert images to use for a fb post and came across one that appears to be an Angel food cake, sliced into 3 layers with whipped cream and berries. It lead me to this vault of glorious desserts, yet it isn’t on the list of 50+ desserts. Is it literally just your Angel food cake recipe listed, but prepared/decorated differently? Thanks in advance!
I think it may be! We have been updating a lot of our posts, so it could have been an old photo of the recipe and when we reshot the recipe, we updated it with new photos.
Hi Kristyn!
First of all, love all of your recipes!
I was looking for some 4th of July dessert images to use for a fb post and came across one that appears to be an Angel food cake, sliced into 3 layers with whipped cream and berries. It lead me to this vault of glorious desserts, yet it isn’t on the list of 50+ desserts. Is it literally just your Angel food cake recipe listed, but prepared/decorated differently? Thanks in advance!
I think it may be! We have been updating a lot of our posts, so it could have been an old photo of the recipe and when we reshot the recipe, we updated it with new photos.