Fourth of July Cake

Celebrate the Fourth of July with this easy and delicious patriotic layer cake! It’s way easier than it looks, and uses Twizzlers for the decorations!

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You may not know this, but the 4th of July is actually pretty special. It’s my dad’s birthday! Growing up, I used to always think that the fireworks were for his birthday. We always ate cake, climbed to the top of this big hill, and watched the fireworks all over the Denver area. It was the best.

Now that I am older, I know the fireworks aren’t for him, but I can’t help but crave a good cake on the 4th of July every year! This year, I decided to put a twist on a traditional cake using Twizzlers Twists and a patriotic, 4-layer, red, white, and blue cake. And lucky for you guys, I am sharing how I did it here on the blog!

It actually is NOT as hard as it looks. Layer cakes are actually easy once you know how to do them! And the decorations? All you need are some kitchen scissors and a knife!

Now I know layer cakes are scary. I myself used to be a huge failure at cakes of any sort. Then I learned how to make them when I made my son’s 1st and 2nd birthday cakes, and my mother-in-law’s 50th birthday cake. So now I’m basically a pro. And I have a step-by-step photo tutorial so your cake comes out perfect, too!

You will need:
1 box white cake
1 box red velvet cake
Blue gel food coloring
2 cans of vanilla frosting
1 pint whipping cream
1 3.4oz box of vanilla pudding
1 package of Twizzlers Twists Strawberry
1 package of Twizzlers Pull N Peel Red White N Blue

First, preheat your oven to 275. What? But the box says 350! No. If you want to bake a cake that is flat on top, you bake it at a lower temperature for a longer amount of time.

Next, mix one of your boxes of cake mix according to package directions. If you are doing your vanilla cake first, add the blue gel food coloring. You can use regular food coloring if you want, but the gel turns out so much more vibrant!

Now, one of the 3 most important things about making a layer cake: the pans. Cut out two parchment paper circles to fit in the bottom of 2 8″ cake pans.

Spray them with cooking spray, and then scoop some flour in and move it around, making sure it covers the bottom and the edges. If you have excess flour, just dump it. Doing this will make it SUPER easy to get your cake out of the pan. It won’t break, it won’t look weird, and it will be perfect.

Pour your batter evenly into your two prepared cake pans, and bake for 35 minutes.

Let your cakes cool, and then remove from the pan and chill in the refrigerator. This is another super important part of baking layer cakes! I actually prefer wrapping them in saran wrap and putting them in the freezer, but the cake will do great in the fridge unwrapped for a few hours, too.

Repeat all of the above steps for the other box of cake mix, including let cool in the fridge.

Combine your pudding mix with the whipping cream and blend with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. It doesn’t take very long. And if you don’t know what stiff peaks are, if you can pull the mixer up from the filling and it stays standing up, it’s perfect.

Spread 1/3 of your filling over the first layer of the cake and top with your second layer.

Do this for the second and third layers, too.

Top with the fourth layer of your cake.

Now here’s the third most important part of making a layer cake! DIRTY ICE THAT CAKE. You know how you watch Cake Boss and they’re all talking about dirty icing the cakes? It’s just a thin layer of frosting that goes on before the normal frosting. Why? I’m sure you’ve experienced the frustration when you try and frost a cake and the crumbs get all up in the frosting and then it looks bad? Well dirty icing your cake prevents that! So like I said, just do a thin layer of icing to fill in the gaps of the layers and keep those crumbs in place. Then refrigerate it for 30 minutes-1 hour.

Now you can do your real frosting. So frost the entire cake now and then try and use a spatula or something smooth to get it nice and pretty. I recommend doing the top, then the sides, then smooth out where they meet.

Decorating time! Here’s what makes this cake even more special! I first started with the Twizzlers Twists around the edges of the cake to give it red and white stripes. To do that, cut off the bottom of all your Twizzlers Twists, and then after you press them against the cake, trim the top. I tried cutting them all the same size, but it just didn’t work because of the way my cake baked. So I would recommend sizing them all individually. After you put them on, gently press them in so they stick to the frosting.

Now the flag. Pull apart two of your Twizzlers Pull N Peel Red White N Blue. Cut the blues to the same size, and then put them on a plate, all lined up. Cut half of your red and whites to the same size as the blues, and line them up across from your blues. Make sure you have the same number or it won’t be even when you go to put on the bottom stripes. Now just cut your remaining red and whites so they will line up with the whole size of your flag. After you like the way it looks on your plate, transfer it to the center of your cake! You can make it a big flag that covers most of the cake or a small flag that just sits in the middle. It’s up to you.

Now just frost the top edges of your cake to hide the tops of your Twizzlers Twists (I used a Wilton 1M tip) and you are done! If you really want to, you can frost the bottom of the cake, too, but I didn’t.

How gorgeous is that cake? And you are sure to get oohs and aahs when you cut into it, too! And you can celebrate the Fourth of July properly now! With a Fourth of July cake! So Happy 239th Birthday to the USA and Happy 74th Birthday to my dad!

Fourth of July Cake

Celebrate the Fourth of July with this easy and delicious patriotic layer cake! It's way easier than it looks, and uses Twizzlers for the decorations!

Print

Ingredients

• 1 box white cake
• 1 box red velvet cake
• Blue gel food coloring
• 2 cans of vanilla frosting
• 1 pint whipping cream
• 1 3.4oz box of vanilla pudding
• 1 package of Twizzlers Twists Strawberry
• 1 package of Twizzlers Pull N Peel Red White N Blue

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F
2. Mix your boxed cake mix according to packaged directions (making sure to add blue food coloring when doing the white cake)
3. Cut out two parchment paper circles for the bottoms of two 8" round cake pans. Place in pans, spray with cooking spray, and then put some flour in the middles and move it around so it covers the whole pan (sides and bottom)
4. Pour your batter evenly into pans and bake for 35 minutes
5. Let cool completely and remove from pans. Let set in fridge
6. Repeat all the above steps for your second box of cake mix
7. Combine your pudding mix with the whipping cream and blend with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form
8. Spread 1/3 of your filling over the bottom layer of your cake. Repeat with the second and third layers, topping with your fourth layer
9. Dirty ice your cake and refrigerate it for 30 minutes-1 hour
10. Frost your cake
11. Cut off the bottom of all your Twizzlers Twists, and then after you press them against the cake, trim the tops. After you put them on, gently press them in so they stick to the frosting
12. Pull apart two of your Twizzlers Pull N Peel Red White N Blue. Cut the blues to the same size, and then put them on a plate, all lined up. Cut half of your red and whites to the same size as the blues, and line them up across from your blues. Make sure you have the same number or it won’t be even when you go to put on the bottom stripes. Cut your remaining red and whites so they will line up with the whole size of your flag. After you like the way it looks on your plate, transfer it to the center of your cake
13. Frost the top edges of the cake to hide the tops of your Twizzlers Twists
14. You are done!

 

What kinds of Fourth of July traditions do you have? Let me know in the comments!