In case you weren’t aware, the fourth of July is on Saturday. Yes – we are moving out of June and into July. Where did the time go? With the holiday coming up, I’m sure you’re looking for a great and patriotic recipe to impress your friends. I’ve put together a red, white, and blue cake inspired by an Instagram photo I saw on Martha Stewart.

If you don’t want to make cake and frosting from scratch, this is an easy recipe that can be done with store bought cake mix and frosting. Just make sure it’s a white cake if you go that route!

Ingredients:
for cake:
– 4 cups all purpose flour
– 3 tsp baking powder
– 1.5 tsp salt
– 3 sticks unsalted butter
– 2.5 cups of sugar
– 3 tbsp vanilla
– 2/3 cup milk
– red food coloring
– blue food coloring

for frosting:
– 10 egg whites
– 3 cups sugar
– pinch of salt
– 8 sticks unsalted butter
– 2 tbsp unsalted butter

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease three 8-inch round cake pans.
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl or a stand mixer – beat the sugar and butter together until creamy. Add the eggs, one by one. Then add the vanilla. Once beat together, alternate mixing in the flour mixture and milk – starting and ending with the flour.
4. Fill one 8-inch pan with the white mixture. Once that pan is filled, separate the remaining mixture in between two bowls. Add the red food coloring to one, and the blue to the other – until the desired color is reached.
5. Pour the colored mixture into the remaining two pans. Bake the three pans in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until it’s browned on the sides and a toothpick comes out clean.
6. While the cake bakes, make the frosting mixture.
7. For the frosting – combine the egg whites, sugar, and salt. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture reaches about 150 degrees F.
8. Whisk the egg white mixture until it reaches room temperature and stiff peaks have formed, about 5-10 minutes. At this point the mixture will be thickened and white. With the mixer on low speed, add the butter, 2 tablespoon as a time.
9. Once all the butter is added, raise the speed to medium high and mix until the mixture starts to come together. Beat until the buttercream comes together fully and is smooth. This will take time, about 5 minutes.
10. Once finished, mix in the vanilla.
11. To assemble the cake, evenly cut off the top of each cake and trim around the edges. With the blue cake at the bottom, frost each layer until the three layers are together. Then frost around the sides of the cake. For a smooth finish, take a baking spatula and run it along the sides of the cake.
12. And finally, decorate as you please! For my cake (pictured) I used white sprinkles on the whole cake and topped it with