American holidays are the perfect time to prepare beautiful red, white and blue desserts. My Firecracker Cake is fun to bake and will have everyone wondering how you got all the colors in there. The great thing about this cake is the short list of main ingredients—just cake mix, frosting and some food coloring. It's the secret tricks in the baking and frosting that make it so beautiful.
I start by using Betty Crocker® Super Moist™ white cake mix. I mix it according to the directions on the box and then remove one cup of batter to which I add red food coloring and another cup of batter to which I add blue food coloring.
I first pour the red batter into a greased fluted tube pan and top it with the white batter and then the blue batter.
Bake according to the directions on the box. Once the cake is baked and cooled slightly, I turn it out onto a cooling rack over a baking sheet.
Once the cake is completely cool, equally divide the Betty Crocker® Whipped Fluffy White Frosting into three bowls. Microwave the white frosting for a few seconds on high until it is smooth enough to drizzle over the cake. With a spoon, drizzle the white frosting back and forth around the whole ring in a striping pattern until you use it all.
Then microwave one of the other bowls. Before drizzling, mix in a few drops of blue food coloring. Drizzle over the cake. Repeat with the third bowl of frosting and red food coloring, making sure you can see the red, white and blue colors. Set cake aside to dry.
As pretty as the cake looks on the outside, the inside also has a red white and blue surprise!
Ingredients
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1box Betty Crocker™ Super Moist™ White Cake Mix
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Water, vegetable oil and whole eggs called for on cake mix box
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1 1/4teaspoons red gel food color from 1 box Betty Crocker™ Classic Gel Food Color
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1 1/4teaspoons blue gel food color from 1 box Betty Crocker™ Classic Gel Food Color
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1/2cup from 1 tub (16 oz) Betty Crocker™ Rich & Creamy Vanilla Frosting
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2teaspoons Betty Crocker™ Red, White & Blue Sprinkles, if desired
Directions
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1Heat oven to 350°F. Generously spray 12-cup fluted tube cake pan with baking spray with flour.
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2In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and whole eggs with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. In small bowl, place 1 cup of the batter; stir in 1 teaspoon of the red food color until blended. In another small bowl, place 1 cup of the batter; stir in 1 teaspoon of the blue food color until blended.
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3Pour red cake batter into bottom of pan. Carefully pour remaining white batter over red batter in pan. Carefully pour blue batter over white batter. (Blue batter does not need to cover white batter completely; it looks better if it just forms a ring in the center of the white batter.)
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4Bake 39 to 44 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven. Let stand 10 minutes, remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
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5Place cake on cooling rack over waxed paper or cooking parchment paper. In small microwavable bowl, place 1/4 cup of the frosting. Microwave uncovered on High 10 to 15 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle over cake. With spoon, drizzle warmed frosting back and forth over cake in striping pattern. Divide remaining frosting between 2 small microwavable bowls. To 1 bowl, stir in 1/4 teaspoon red food color until well blended. Microwave uncovered on High 5 to 10 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over cake. Repeat with remaining bowl of frosting and 1/4 teaspoon blue food color. Sprinkle candy sprinkles on top. Let stand about 30 minutes or until frosting is set. Store loosely covered at room temperature.
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