This Red, White, and Blue Cake is tender, delicious, and easy to make! It is the perfect cake for the patriotic holidays like 4th of July and Memorial Day!
I recently shared my 4th of July cake, cupcakes, and cheesecake salad but I had one more cake I had to share!
This fun bundt cake is something I often refer to as a Firecracker Cake. It has three colors, lots of sprinkles, and is just plain fun!
What you need for Red White and Blue Cake?
- Box of White Cake Mix
- Additional Cake Mix Ingredients: Vegetable Oil, Sour Cream, Heavy Creamy, Egg Whites, Red and Blue Gel Food Coloring
- Frosting: Unsalted Butter, Powdered Sugar, Heavy Cream, Red and Blue Food Coloring, Sprinkles
- Bundt Pan- 6 cup or 12 cup size (amazon affiliate links)
This cake is extra fun because of the three colors of cake! It makes for a show stopping experience!
Why use boxed cake mix?
I love using a box cake mix and then doctoring it to make it taste like it’s from scratch. By adding sour cream, heavy cream, and extra egg whites you won’t believe how good this cake is!
How to make Red, White, and Blue Cake?
- Mix together the oil, vanilla, sour cream, heavy cream, and egg whites. Then mix together the boxed cake mix.
- Place 1 cup of cake batter in a bowl and stir in red food coloring. Place another cup of batter in a separate bowl and mix in the blue food coloring.
- Spray your bundt pan with nonstick spray (I like the kind with flour like Baker's Joy!), then spread the red batter along the bottom of the pan. Then pour the white batter over the red, and then follow that by the blue.
- I like to pour the blue in a thin band in the center of the white to get it to balloon into the center of the cake.
- Bake your cake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean!
Pro Tip: Food Gel Coloring darkens as it sits! Let your cake batter sit for 5-10 minutes to deepen the color or red and blue.
Bundt Pan Sizing
If using a 6 cup pan remove ½- ¾ cup of white batter. The cake will still bake fine if you don't remove the batter but it will rise above the edge of the pan as it bakes and you will want to slice that extra bit off- resulting in less blue.
A 12 cup bundt pan is quite large and will create a shorter bundt cake, but still delicious.
How to decorate the cake?
- Make the frosting, divide into three portions and add red gel food coloring and blue gel food coloring to their own portions.
- Heat frosting for 5-10 seconds until it is thin enough to drizzle on the cake, working with one color at a time.
- Drizzle the frosting using a spoon or cut the corner off a Ziploc baggie. Top with your favorite sprinkles and enjoy!
This cake is one that is easy to make and because of the colors becomes a showstopper! Almost as much as the fireworks at your party!
If you like this recipe, check out my chocolate chip pie recipe, 4th of July Cookies, and my caramel corn for other tasty treats perfect for a get together!
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Red White and Blue Cake
Equipment
- 1 Bundt Pan 6 cup or 12 cup*
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 box of white cake mix
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tbs vanilla
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 4 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon Red Gel Food Coloring
- 1 teaspoon Blue Gel Food Coloring
Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 ½ tbs heavy cream
- ¼-½ teaspoon Red Gel Food Coloring
- ¼-½ teaspoon Blue Gel Food Coloring
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a bundt pan with non-stick spray with flour- like Baker's Joy (or use a spray like Pam and then dust pan with flour.
- Mix together the oil, vanilla, sour cream, heavy cream and egg whites. Then mix in the boxed cake mix.1 box of white cake mix, ½ cup vegetable oil, 2 tbs vanilla, ¾ cup sour cream, ¾ cup heavy cream, 4 egg whites
- Scoop out ¾ cup cake mix into a bowl and mix in red food coloring. Scoop out another ¾ cup of cake mix into a small bowl and mix in blue food coloring.1 teaspoon Red Gel Food Coloring, 1 teaspoon Blue Gel Food Coloring
- Pour red batter into the bottom of the bundt pan. Then carefully pour the white cake batter over the red. Pour the blue batter over the white, focusing creating a band in the center of the white.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean, and it reaches 205°F on a food thermometer.
- Once done baking, let the cake to stand for 10 minutes, then flip onto a cooling rack and remove from the bundt pan. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- In a stand mixer, whip your butter on medium high speed until the butter is light and fluffy. Then mix in the vanilla and salt.½ cup unsalted butter, ½ teaspoon vanilla, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Alternating between powdered sugar and heavy cream, mix each in until fully incorporated.2 ½ cups powdered sugar, 2 ½ tbs heavy cream
- Divide frosting into three separate bowls. Mix in red food coloring to one bowl, blue to another, and leave the third white.¼-½ teaspoon Red Gel Food Coloring, ¼-½ teaspoon Blue Gel Food Coloring
How to decorate cake:
- Place cake on a cooling rack.
- Microwave white frosting for 5 to 10 seconds, stir, and repeat until frosting is runny and a good consistency to drizzle. Drizzle over cake with a spoon or a bag with the corner cut off, using back and forth motions to make stripes.
- Repeat with the red frosting, then the blue. Once the cake is drizzled with the blue, add sprinkles to the top and allow frosting to set up for 30 minutes.Sprinkles
Notes
- *Bundt Pan Sizing- If using a 6 cup pan remove ½- ¾ cup of white batter. If not the cake will still bake fine it will just rise above the edge of the pan and you will want to slice that extra bit off- resulting in less blue (like in the pics above). A 12 cup bundt pan is quite large and will create a shorter bundt cake, but still delicious. (affiliate links)
- If you need to soften your butter fast, place it on a microwave safe dish in the microwave, turn your microwave to 30% power and microwave for 15 second intervals until soft.
- If the frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar, 1 tbs at a time, to thicken it. If it’s too thick add more heavy cream, 1 tbs at a time until it’s at your desired consistency.
Lisa
Love this cake! It's so good and always gets eaten up right away!