Best Flag Sheet Cake: Tips and Tricks for a Perfect Patriotic Dessert
This Flag Sheet Cake recipe is an absolute hit at any patriotic celebration. It’s a fun and easy way to show off your patriotism this Fourth of July or Memorial Day.
It’s also super easy to make! Plus, who doesn’t love turning a simple cake into a stunning flag-inspired dessert?
Flag Sheet Cake Recipe + Tips for Successs
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature (1 stick)
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (2 sticks)
- 12 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To assemble
- 1 cup blueberries
- 3 cups raspberries
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Instructions
Make the Cake
- Prep. Start by preheating the oven to 350°F and greasing a 10×16-inch rimmed sheet pan with non-stick baking spray.
- Beat butter and sugar. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, fully incorporating each egg before adding the next one, and stir in the vanilla.
- Combine dry ingredients. Combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix on low until everything is just combined. Don't forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Pour into baking sheet. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
Make the Frosting
- Use a clean bowl to beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until it becomes fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until the frosting becomes smooth.
Assemble the Cake
- Spread. Spread half the frosting over the cooled cake. Using a toothpick, draw a rectangle for blueberries in the upper left corner, fill it with blueberries, and arrange double rows of raspberries across the cake, aligning with the bottom of the blueberry rectangle.
- Add the berries. Fill the upper left square with blueberries. Make a double row of raspberries on top of the cake to the right of the blue square. You will want the bottom of the blue square to line up with the bottom of a raspberry row, so space the rows accordingly. Continue with double rows of raspberries, leaving space in between for white stripes.
- Add the remaining frosting. Finally, fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip with the remaining cream cheese frosting. Then pipe stars over the blueberries and stripes between the raspberry rows using the remaining frosting in a piping bag fitted with a star tip.
- Serve. When it's time to serve, you can serve the cake directly from the pan and refrigerate any leftovers.
Notes
Nutrition
More Tips:
Make sure to let your cake cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack before frosting it, as frosting a warm cake can cause the frosting to melt and become messy.
If your frosting is too thick to spread, add a teaspoon of milk to thin it until it becomes spreadable. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar to thicken it.
To create a neat berry design, arrange your berries in straight, tight lines, resembling the precise stripes of a flag.
If you’re new to piping, practice on a plate or parchment paper before starting on the cake to get a feel for the required pressure and speed to create neat stars and stripes.
Always use a clean and sharp knife to cut the cake, wiping it between each cut so the cake layers and design remain neat and beautiful on every plate.
About the Ingredients
Here are some easy swaps you can make for the Flag Sheet Cake recipe:
- Butter: You can use margarine or coconut oil for a dairy-free option.
- Sugar: Use coconut sugar or a sugar-free sweetener in equal amounts instead of regular sugar.
- Eggs: For a vegan alternative to eggs, use flax eggs (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water per egg).
- Milk: Use almond, soy, or oat milk instead of regular milk.
- Cream Cheese: Try vegan cream cheese or mascarpone instead of regular cream cheese.
- Flour: Use gluten-free all-purpose flour instead of regular flour if you need to.
Remember that changing these ingredients may affect the texture and taste of the cake, but don’t be afraid to experiment to find what works for you.
What’s a better way to celebrate our country’s independence than this Flag Sheet Cake? It’s not only beautiful to look at, but it’s also seriously simple to make, and the flavors come together beautifully.
You can also get your kids involved in making this recipe. Let them stir and decorate with the berries. I find that this makes eating it even more fun when they know they’ve had a hand in preparing it. So why not give it a try?
By Katie Shaw
Katie shares simple, reliable recipes from her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband, three daughters, a chocolate lab, and over thirty chickens.
This looks delicious, but I’m quite puzzled by your statement above:
“vanilla: vanilla is necessary as it adds a density to all baked goods”
I thought vanilla was used for flavour; how would it add density to a cake? And actually, why would you want a dense cake? I’m sure I’m misinterpreting what you’ve stated, so please help me to understand it. Thanks!
I have to say I agree with your comment. I had the exact same reaction when I read the instruction about vanilla adding density to the cake. It doesn’t make any sense at all to me.
hi ali! how strange! I used to have someone edit my posts and I wonder if she added it? I changed it; thank you!