Red, white and blue cake



Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 35-40 minutes

Yields: 9x13-inch cake

Description
Looking for a treat to complete your Fourth of July? Here is the perfect dessert to add to your table. It is delicious and refreshing with festive berries completing the cake. This is a recipe for vanilla cake and vanilla frosting but you can alter the recipe as you see fit. Another idea is using food coloring in the cake to add more color and fun to the delicious dessert.

Ingredients
For the cake For the frosting On the top
 * 2 cups (500 mL) sugar
 * 4 eggs
 * 2-1/2 cups (625 mL) all-purpose flour
 * 1 cup (250 mL) milk
 * 3/4 cup (175 mL) vegetable oil
 * 2-1/4 teaspoons (11 mL) baking powder
 * 1 teaspoon (5 mL) vanilla
 * 1/3 c. soft butter
 * 3 c. confectioners' sugar
 * 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
 * About 2 tbsp. milk
 * 1 small package of blueberries
 * 1 package of strawberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line two 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans or one 9x13-inch (23 x 33 cm) rectangular baking pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the pan well.

In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla and beat for another minute, just until the batter is smooth and creamy. Don't overbeat. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan(s).

Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick poked into the center of the layer comes out clean. (A single rectangular pan will take longer to bake than two round ones.) Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with a thin knife, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. Let cool completely before covering with frosting, if desired.

For the frosting, blend butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla and milk. Beat until frosting is smooth and of spreading consistency.

To decorate, Spread the white frosting over the cooled cake. Wash the berries and slice the strawberries. Lay the berries in the design of the American flag, blueberries in the upper left hand corner (50 of them) and then line 13 lines of strawberries horizontally across the cake. Enjoy!