American Flag Cake

Every 4th of July, I think of this cake. It's red, white and blue. It's got strawberries, blueberries and whipped topping. And it's easy to make. What could be better? This year I added a little surprise inside.

I have seen recipes for a rainbow cake floating around and thought I would give it a try with red, white and blue. I mixed up a regular white cake mix, then separated the batter into three bowls, adding blue food coloring to one bowl and red to another.

Using a 13x9 inch pan, I poured in the white batter first, then layered on the red, followed by the blue (in a half-hazard way, as you can see). Then, using a toothpick, I swirled them together a bit. I wasn't sure how this would look after it was baked and cut into, but it was worth a try. I probably should have put the red down first, then the white, followed by the blue. I was too anxious to get it in the oven and see what it would look like! 

After the cake has cooled completely, spread one tub of whipped topping on top. Add blueberries and sliced strawberries to make the flag design.

When it was time for dessert, this is what it looked like - pretty cool! Just enough red and blue to not look too scary to eat it. Next time I might swirl it around a little more or try making stripes instead. The blue cake kinda looked a little greenish where the top of the cake turned golden brown. But it tasted delicious! 

Ingredients:

1 white cake mix (according to directions) 

Blue and red food coloring 

1 tub whipped topping, thawed

Blueberries

Strawberries

Happy Birthday America! 

Grateful for Independence

Happy July 4th (yesterday) to everyone in the U.S. We are truly blessed. A "thank you" goes out to my Mom and Dad for our flag, which we proudly display. I enjoyed celebrating with some of my favorite people. We spent the afternoon basking in beautiful weather, sunshine, grilling, good food and lots of backyard fun...like this! My niece and nephew (and husband and brother-in-law) had a blast in our blow-up pool, that has lasted a 3rd summer, much to our amazement.

A little before 10pm, Andrew and I rode our bikes down the street to the sports park, which was hosting the annual Spirit of America fireworks celebration. It has become a tradition since we moved into our house. The display was spectacular as usual. But I forgot to bring my camera! We like being able to zip past the lines of cars streaming into the park, find a nice spot on the grass to watch the show, then back on our bikes and home again in no time.

My heart is full. So grateful for so much.