Happy 4th of July!

  The flag cake turned out so cute. It was a big hit, and I got a lot of compliments. Slightly lopsided, but really fun and it tasted yummy!
 
  I used this guide, from 17 and Baking, but I made a double batch of buttercream frosting instead, used plain white cake mixes (as directed, with no coconut milk), colored one round blue and one red. (And incidentally, a typical cake mix makes 4 cups of batter.. so that's 2 cups of blue, 2 cups of red). The other mix, leave white and divide between two 8 or 9 inch rounds. Either will work. Cool completely.

  You then cut all layers in half horizontally, EXCEPT the blue layer. Cut a 4" round circle out of the blue layer. Cut another 4" circle out of one of the red half's, and one of the white half's.
 
  Lay one white layer on your cake plate, and frost with a thin layer on top... the sides will be frosted later.
  From there, follow the photo... it will be white, red, white.. then you lay the blue outer ring on. Put a thin layer of frosting around the inside of the blue ring (this helps to hold your cake together).
  Lay one of the small 4" red circles inside the blue, and frost the top... then lay the last white layer on top of that.
  Frost the entire cake. *whew*. Done. I left it plainly frosted, with a sprinkle of white sugar. You can decorate it any way you like.

  This cake frazzled my brain a bit, but if I can do it, you can do it!
 

Buttercream Frosting:


1 stick room temperature butter
  (REAL butter is best)

4 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

Heavy Cream

2 tsp Vanilla


Place butter in a mixing bowl, and let it come to room temp. You want it very soft, but not melty.

Add the powdered sugar, and vanilla.

Add a tablespoon of cream.. then mix together briefly with a fork. (this helps to avoid powdered sugar from flying all over your kitchen, and YES. I totally got frosting all over my kitchen. Do as I say, not as I do. )

Using an electric mixer, slowllllyyyy start to beat the frosting. Add more cream, as needed, a little at a time. You want your frosting to be sort of thick, but spreadable. If it's too thick and not coming together, add a tiny bit more cream. If it's too thin, add a little more powdered sugar. It's not an exact science.. not in this house anyway.

Turn your mixer up to a medium speed. My mom always says, it's not buttercream unless you beat it for 10 minutes. Trust me, I've beat it for 6-7 minutes and she never knew the difference :D

*note: for this flag cake, I needed 2 seperate batches of frosting to put it all together and have enough to cover the whole cake.. with about half of the second batch left over. If you want, you can easily make a batch and a half. Just be sure you have a large enough mixing bowl, or make 1/2 a batch separately. Or, you can use the leftover frosting on the leftover cake pieces, if you like. I've never frozen a frosted cake before.. if you have, let me know how it turns out!

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Just as a bonus, I snapped a pic of this cute kitty tea pot my mom had in her china cabinet. It's an Erphila, made in Germany, some time after WW2.. as it's marked "made in US zone, Germany." There are a couple of dings on the ears, the nose, and the tip of the spout.. but overall it's a very cute and still functional.

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xoxo, Whimsical Road

 

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