4th of July Cake

The 4th of July is Friday. Backyard celebrations abound and this time of year and I love to try out new recipes. Admittedly, I focus primarily on healthy options but sometimes I will prepare some more traditional sweets. Walmart challenged me to do a recipe for the 4th and as I was walking down one of the aisles I saw Duff’s cake products. If you aren’t familiar with Duff Goldman, he is the star of the show Ace of Cakes and owner of Charm City Cakes and Cake Mix bakeries.  

I absolutely love watching cooking shows, especially the ones featuring cakes. It is funny because even at the gym I’ll watch cake decorating and cupcake decorating shows. I think the designs are really impressive and although it isn’t a talent I personally possess, I enjoy watching the creative process.

My friends frequently get upset with me because when I make a cake or some other confection because inevitably I take it with me to a party and leave it at their house. It is better to give than to receive, right? Well, the same goes true for this red, white and blue cake for the 4th of July. I will be sharing it (aka giving it away) but enjoy the baking process. Although I rarely use boxed cake, I was so fascinated by the Duff products, I wanted to give this one a try.

I am quite pleased with the results and admit that it tastes just as good as it looks! The trick for the red, white and blue swirl is to separate the batter into three batches, add food coloring and layer in the cake pan. 

It is a fairly simple process and provides the cake with both a festive and unique look. Although I am no Duff, using his cake mix I can sort of pretend I am!

I followed the directions on Duff’s Stars and Stripes premium cake mix. The only change I made was to use butter instead of oil in the recipe. I figure if you are going to make sweets, it might as well be as decadent as possible since it is a special treat! When I added the various colors of batter, I did give my cake pans a shake to help the batter distribute. The final result really does end up living up to the name with red, white and blue striped cake topped with stars!

This is a fun and festive cake and I’m glad I decided to try making it!