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We love celebrating our patriotic holidays with family and delicious food – especially desserts like this American Flag Cake!
Fourth of July and Memorial Day are filled with so many favorite treats, and this one is especially easy, festive, and delicious. The cake is a simple sheet cake with a tangy cream cheese frosting – the magic comes from the decorations! We used strawberries and blueberries to create a cute (and delicious) flag, perfect for celebrating.
After you try this yummy recipe, you’ll see why this is one of our go-to 4th of July desserts.
Why we think you’ll love it:
- Fresh summer produce. It’s a light and refreshing, easy dessert covered in fresh berries, perfect for summer gatherings.
- Change the flavors. The recipe is versatile and can be adapted to different cake flavors and fruit designs for different holidays.
- Party perfect. This cake fills a sheet pan so it’s great for feeding a crowd!
American Flag Cake Ingredients And Substitutions
Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour – see How to Measure Flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs – room temperature eggs incorporate better with the other ingredients
- ½ cup sour cream – or Greek yogurt
- ½ teaspoon almond extract – or vanilla extract
Frosting
- 2 (8-ounce) blocks cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 2 – 3 cups powdered sugar – sift to get rid of any hard lumps
- ⅓ cup pineapple juice
- 2 – 3 cups (about 1 pound) strawberries – This recipe uses fresh strawberry slices, but strawberry halves or rows of raspberries would also work.
- 1 cup blueberries – use fresh blueberries
How to Make an American Flag Cake
- PREP. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease an 11×15 baking pan and set aside, or line the baking pan with parchment paper
- BATTER. Bring butter and water to a boil in a saucepan.
- Remove from heat and whisk in flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, eggs, sour cream, and almond extract until smooth.
- BAKE. Pour into a greased baking pan. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes.
- FROST. While the cake is cooling, make the frosting. In a medium bowl, cream blocks of cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar, and pineapple juice with the hand mixer.
- Spread frosting over the cooled cake.
- DECORATE. Place blueberries and sliced strawberries on top to look like a flag. Chill for 1 hour before serving.
Kristyn’s Recipe Tips
- Use fresh fruit only as frozen berries will become mushy and bleed juices when they thaw.
- We use the exposed white frosting for the white stripes, but you can use a piping tip to pipe on more pronounced white stripes.
- Make a red cake or blue cake by adding food coloring to the cake batter.
- Fully prepare and frost the top of the flag cake recipe one day in advance. Keep it covered and add the fresh fruit up to 3 hours before serving.
American Flag Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
Frosting
- 2 (8-ounce) blocks cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup pineapple juice
- 2-3 cups (about 1 pound) strawberries, sliced
- 1 cup blueberries
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease an 11×15 baking pan and set aside.
- Bring butter and water to a boil in a saucepan.
- Remove from heat and whisk in flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, eggs, sour cream, and almond extract until smooth.
- Pour into a greased baking pan. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes.
Frosting
- While the cake is cooling, make the frosting. In a medium bowl, cream the cream cheese, softened butter, 2-3 cups powdered sugar, and pineapple juice with the hand mixer. Spread frosting over the cooled cake.
- Add blueberries and sliced strawberries to look like a flag. Chill for 1 hour before serving.
Video
Notes
- Use fresh fruit only as frozen berries will become mushy and bleed juices when they thaw.
- We use the exposed white frosting for the white stripes, but you can use a piping tip to pipe on more pronounced white stripes.
- Make a red cake or blue cake by adding food coloring to the cake batter.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe FAQ
Make a double batch of frosting. Make ¼ of it blue and ¼ of it red. Use a small star tip to add dollops of blue stars in the corner. Use a large round tip to pipe the red stripes. If you don’t have a pastry bag or piping tips, you can use a gallon Ziploc and snip off one of the corners.
Once the sheet cake cools, cut it in half widthwise. Add a layer of frosting on top of one side of the cake. Place the other half of the cake on the frosting. Frost the top of the cake and decorate it to look like a flag.
Fully prepare and frost the top of the American Flag cake recipe one day in advance. Keep it covered and add the fresh fruit up to 3 hours before serving.
Freeze the cake and the frosting separately. Allow the cake to cool completely, and wrap it with plastic wrap and again with foil. Freeze for 2-3 months. Place the cream cheese frosting in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the frosting before spreading it on the cake and adding fresh fruit.
Cover and store the cake in the fridge for 2-3 days, or wrap it tightly with plastic and foil and freeze for up to 2 months. Remove the berries when storing for longer than a couple of days.
More Like This
Patriotic Recipes
Summer Desserts
Cherry Sheet Cake
40 mins
Dessert Parfait
1 hr 10 mins
Root Beer Float Ice Cream Cake
2 hrs 40 mins
Fruit Pizza
30 mins
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This recipe was originally published May 2023.
Do i need to cook down the butter and water before adding the eggs? Thank you!
Yes!
I love this recipe. It is the perfect summertime festive treat. My kids love helping with the berries.
So easy, light and festive cake. I’ve made this cake before and received rave reviews.
Super fun cake! I did it in the sheet pan, but cheated a bit and used a box cake mix. I made the icing and used my cute piping decorators to add a bit more to the white sections and used raspberries instead of strawberries. Was super fun and yummy. Thank you Kristyn for the great ideas and recipes.
My grandkids loved helping me make the flag cake! It is so festive and tastes delicious!
Love this patriotic cake! It is so festive and tastes great! My grandson and granddaughter had fun helping to make it!
Oh I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for giving the recipe a try!
This is a particularly attractive cake. I have seen the flag cake idea before, but this is the prettiest. The design is lined up beautifully. I never considered the importance of lining up the “core” stripe in the middle of the strawberry slice. You have those stripes in such a straight line. It makes all the difference. I will be sure to follow your example.
The cake didn’t rise up like a usual cake.
Can this be made in a 9×13 pan? (Single layer?)
Yes, but baking time might need to be adjusted slightly. You’ll know the cake is done when you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Also, make sure not to overfill the 9×13 pan, since the cake will rise when baking. So you may or may not use all the batter. I’d say fill the pan to 2/3 full, no more.