Humbly Homemade

hidden surprise American flag cake

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sliced vanilla cake showing a hidden American flag cake baked inside

Happy 4th of July

Happy birthday, America! As we all know, this country has a very mixed and muddled past. Yes, America claimed itself as a free country with the Declaration of Independence. But at who’s cost? Was this their land to claim and own? Who was forced to till the soil and reap the harvests to feed those owning this land? We’ve made great progress for the rights of everyone residing here in the U.S. since 1776. And while we have further still to go, it’s nice to take a day to celebrate all that this country stands for. And what better way to celebrate than with an epic hidden surprise American flag cake?! 🎆

Inspiration for this cake – citizenship and a prank

I made this cake to celebrate my fiancé obtaining his U.S. citizenship!! It’s the ultimate surprise cake because on the outside, it looks like a plain old boring vanilla cake. BUT when you slice into it… BEHOLD ‘MURICA ALL UP IN YO CAKEY BUSINESS!

I actually got the inspiration for this cake from a prank. Years ago I saw a post on the internet where an American made their Canadian friend a cake decorated like Canada’s flag. However, when the surprised friend sliced into the cake to eat it, he found that an American flag was INSIDE his Canada cake! I thought about replicating this exact prank, but putting an American flag cake inside an Iraq flag cake seemed frighteningly politically accurate. 😅

a hand mixer dripping white cake batter into a metal bowl
One: Make the cake batter
three metal tins filled with red, white and blue cake batter
Two: Dye the cake batter the colors of the flag (red, white and blue) and bake them in three separate tins
pieces of cake dyed red, white and blue laid out in a flag pattern
Three: Cut the cake into pieces to create the flag, then freeze them
pieces of cake dyed red, white and blue placed in an American flag pattern inside a baking dish
Four: Arrange the frozen cake pieces into a flag in a loaf pan
a piping bake filling the gaps in a baking dish of cake
Five: Pipe cake batter on the sides and on top of the flag (I used yellow to contrast the white in the flag)
a hand piping yellow cake batter around a frozen American flag cake
a glass baking dish filled with yellow cake batter
Six: Bake your cake (you sneaky little baker)
a rectangle yellow cake with a hidden American flag cake baked inside
Seven: Optional – trim the edges off your cake to get rid of the caramelized ends
a frosted vanilla cake on a glass cake stand
Eight: Frost your cake decorate however you desire!
A sliced vanilla cake showing a hidden American flag cake baked inside
Nine: Surprise everyone with your magical hidden surprise American flag cake!!!

Hungry for more cake recipes? Check out these!

Hidden Surprise American Flag Cake

Humbly Homemade
Celebrate the Fourth of July with an epic hidden surprise American flag cake! It looks like an assuming vanilla cake on the outside, but once you slice into it and reveal the surprise, it will impress everyone at the BBQ!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hr
Cook Time 1 hr 20 mins
Freeze Time for the Cake Pieces 8 hrs
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 boxes pound cake mix from the grocery store
  • ingredients on the box required for the three cake mixes
  • red, white, blue and yellow food coloring

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  • Grease three small loaf pans/tins or three regular baking dishes. I found some mini loaf tins at the local grocery store, which is what I used to bake my dyed cakes. However, baking them in larger baking dishes would allow for the flag pieces to be larger, and you'd have less little pieces to puzzle together into a cake.
  • Mix together one box of the pound cake mix.
    Divide the cake batter into three separate bowls.
    Dye one bowl of batter red. Dye the second bowl of batter blue. If your third bowl of batter looks white, leave it as-is. But if it has a yellow color, then dye it white.
  • Pour each color batter into a separate loaf tin and bake them for about 25 to 35 minutes, when a toothpick inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean. Or if you're baking your colored cakes in large baking dishes, start checking if they're done after about 18 minutes.
    Let them cool completely, for at least one hour.
  • Slice the red and white cakes into long strips, to make the stripes of the flag.
    Slice the blue cake into squares, to make the upper left square of the flag.
    Freeze all the cut pieces of the cake on a cutting board or baking tray lined with parchment paper.
  • Mix together the second box of pound cake. Dye it yellow to contrast the white of the flag.
  • Arrange your frozen red, white and blue cake pieces in a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan into the shape of a flag.
    Using a piping bag, pipe the yellow cake mix along all the edges of the flag, allowing it to completely cover all the sides and top of it.
  • Bake in the oven at 350°F for 40 to 50 minutes, when a toothpick inserted into the yellow cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for at least one hour.
  • Decorate however you like! I decorated mine with white vanilla buttercream and a splash of rainbow sprinkles. Enjoy and marvel in everyone's ooh's and ahh's when you slice into your masterpiece!
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