American Flag Cake
Posted Jun 18, 2025
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This American flag cake is moist and flavorful with a beautiful texture and a flag made out of berries. It’s easy to make from scratch with simple ingredients and is a perfect patriotic dessert for any holiday!
This American flag cake is a delicious dessert perfect for patriotic barbecues and celebrations!
I take my tried and true vanilla sheet cake recipe – which feeds a large crowd – and give it a red, white and blue glow-up! There are many ways to make the stars and stripes, but I love using fresh berries!
The flag cake is moist with a rich vanilla flavor and beautiful crumb, and the homemade vanilla buttercream frosting is the perfect background to make the flag really pop!
Flag Cake: Ingredients & Substitutions
- All-purpose flour. Cake flour is a good substitute.
- Salted butter. Unsalted butter works well!
- Granulated sugar. white sugar or organic cane sugar yield the best results.
- Whole milk. 2% milk or heavy cream are good substitutes.
- Sour cream. Full-fat, plain Greek yogurt can be used in place of sour cream. I recommend using full-fat ingredients.
- Vanilla extract. You can substitute up to ½ teaspoon of the vanilla extract with a flavored extract like almond, orange, etc.
- Vanilla buttercream: It takes 1.5x my vanilla buttercream recipe to coat this cake. Or, you can use 1.5 or 2x your favorite frosting recipes like vanilla frosting or cream cheese frosting.
Stars & Stripes
I like using fresh berries, you could also use blue and red frosting and pipe the stars and stripes onto the cake if you prefer.
- Blueberries. I suggest keeping the cake red white and blue. Blackberries and concord grapes are a good substitute for blueberries, although they are larger so you will need less.
- Strawberries. cherries (pitted and halved) and raspberries are great red fruits to use in place of or in addition to strawberries.
How to Make a Flag Cake
Let’s walk through how to make this recipe together – and don’t forget to watch the video.
Make the Cake
Begin by preheating the oven and lining a sheet cake pan with parchment paper and lightly grease, set aside.
Then, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt in a medium bowl and set it aside.
Next, whisk the melted butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, milk and vanilla in a large bowl until the mixture is smooth.
Then, add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients and whisk until combined and there are no lumps.
Evenly spread the batter into the prepared sheet cake pan.
Then, bake the cake in the preheated oven for 28-33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
Place cake pan on a wire cooling rack to cool to room temperature.
Freeze the cake
I will often transfer the cake to the freezer to cool faster. It’s also easier to frost a frozen cake without getting crumbs in the frosting as it’s spread.
Make the Vanilla Buttercream
While the flag cake is cooling, make the frosting. You can use the vanilla buttercream frosting recipe listed in the recipe card, or your favorite frosting recipes like this vanilla decorator frosting or cream cheese frosting.
To make the frosting, beat the butter, vanilla and sea salt for 1 minute either in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer.
Then, add 2 cups of the powered sugar, and beat until combined.
Next, add the milk and 3 additional cups of powdered sugar (you should be up to 5 cups by this time), and beat until smooth.
Once smooth, add the remaining 2.5 cups powdered sugar and beat until the frosting is smooth and fluffy.
Assemble the Flag Cake
Let the cake cool completely before spreading the vanilla frosting evenly over the cake.
Arrange the fruit on the cake as follows: make 7 rows of 7 blueberries (add an extra somewhere if desired) in the upper left hand corner of the cake (represent the stars)
Then, make 7 horizontal rows of strawberries evenly spaced down the cake for the stripes (see photos)
Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
Serve
Once the cake is slightly chilled, cut it into pieces of your desired size and serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.
Store
Store leftover cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Freeze
Or, freeze individual slices by flash-freezing them on a baking sheet. I recommend removing the fruit – and serving with fresh fruit after thawing, since berries release a lot of water as they thaw.
Then, wrap the frozen cake slices in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Thaw slowly in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature.
Flag Cake Recipe FAQS
This 16×11″ cake pan with a lid is my all-time favorite sheet cake pan. I use it often.
The only difference is the size of the cake. Most cake recipes are baked in round, 6″ or 9″ cake pans. While this vanilla sheet cake is baked in a large, 16×11″ cake pan.
If you make and love my recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so I can see your creations!
American Flag Cake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup salted butter (melted)
- 2 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs (room temperature)
- 1 cup sour cream (room temperature)
- 1 cup whole milk (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 1 ½ cups salted butter (room temperature)
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 7.5 cups powdered sugar
- 6 Tablespoons whole milk (or half and half, or heavy cream)
Fruit:
- 3.6 ounces blueberries (1 cup – 49 berries)
- 1 pound strawberries (3 cups, cut into 4ths depending on size)
Instructions
Bake the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius).
- Line a sheet cake pan with parchment paper and lightly grease, set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Set aside
- Whisk the melted butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, milk and vanilla in a large bowl until the mixture is smooth.
- Add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients and whisk until combined and there are no lumps.
- Evenly spread the batter into the prepared sheet cake pan.
- Then, bake the vanilla sheet cake in the preheated oven for 28-33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Place cake pan on a wire cooling rack to cool to room temperature (takes about 30 minutes).
- Once cool, you can either lift the cake out of the pan and transfer it to a rectangular serving platter, or leave it in the pan and frost.
Make the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer, beat the butter, vanilla and sea salt for 1 minute.
- Add 2 cups of the powered sugar, and beat until combined.
- Then, add the milk and 3 more cups powdered sugar (you should be up to 5 cups by this time), and beat until smooth.
- Add the additional 2.5 cups powdered sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy.
Assemble the Flag Cake
- Let the cake cool completely before spreading the vanilla frosting evenly over the cake.
- Arrange the fruit on the cake as follows: make 7 rows of 7 blueberries (add an extra somewhere if desired) in the upper left hand corner of the cake (represent the stars)
- Then, make 7 horizontal rows of strawberries evenly spaced down the cake for the stripes (see photos)
- Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
- Cut into pieces and serve
Video
Notes
- All-purpose flour. Cake flour is a good substitute.
- Salted butter. Unsalted butter works well!
- Granulated sugar. white sugar or organic cane sugar yield the best results.
- Whole milk. 2% milk or heavy cream are good substitutes.
- Sour cream. Full-fat, plain Greek yogurt can be used in place of sour cream. I recommend using full-fat ingredients.
- Vanilla extract. You can substitute up to ½ teaspoon of the vanilla extract with a flavored extract like almond, orange, etc.
- Vanilla buttercream: It takes 1.5x my vanilla buttercream recipe to coat this cake. Or, you can use 1.5 or 2x your favorite frosting recipes like vanilla frosting or cream cheese frosting.
- Blueberries. I suggest keeping the cake red white and blue. Blackberries and concord grapes are a good substitute for blueberries, although they are larger so you will need less.
- Strawberries. cherries (pitted and halved) and raspberries are great red fruits to use in place of or in addition to strawberries.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
