American Flag Buttermilk Cake

Kevin and I were both off for Labor Day weekend this year and ran away to Whidbey Island with friends. We had the most wonderful time playing on the water and not setting morning alarms for 3 straight days. Not to mention the seaside bonfires, furry friends, and amazing food! The boys were wake boarding on Saturday when we spotted a pod of 7 orcas nearby, and we were graced with their presence for 2 and a half hours! It was spectacular. 

This cake takes time and an ability to put type-A perfectionism aside (it’s ok if your layers are not perfectly even or perfectly round), but the recipe itself is quite basic. A total of 5 cakes are required to complete the stripes, so there are enough pieces left over to construct a checkerboard two-layer cake. I always have frosting leftover and don’t need to make extra, but it would be easy to scale down the frosting recipe below for the second cake if needed. You will need a whole lotta butter and an entire box of cake flour, but in the end will end up with two impressive cakes and it is perfect for a labor day crowd 🙂 I made the cake Thursday night and we slowly worked our way through it over the course of the weekend. I would recommend refrigerating the cake so the buttercream doesn’t go bad, but it does make the cake quite dense. 

In keeping with this blog being full of information you didn’t care to know, Oregon was the first state to make Labor Day an official public holiday in 1887. It didn’t become an official federal holiday until 1894. There are competing theories about the origin of Labor Day, revolving around the Knights of Labor and Peter J. McGuire, who was the VP of the American Federation of Labor. Either way, this day honoring the American labor movement also marks the end of summer. I swear when we came back to Seattle the leaves had started changing and the air had that crisp fall quality. I’m not sure I’m quite ready to say goodbye to August peaches and tomatoes, but I’m sure I’ll ease into squash, pear, and cinnamon season soon.

American Flag Buttermilk Cake

2018-09-06 15:43:09

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For 1 cake (need 5 total)

1. 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
2. 1 1/4 cups sugar
3. 2 large eggs, room temperature
4. 1 tsp vanilla extract
5. 1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
6. 1 tsp baking powder
7. Pinch of Kosher salt
8. 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature

For the frosting

1. 4 sticks softened unsalted butter
2. 8 cups sifted powdered sugar
3. 1 tbsp vanilla extract
4. 1/3 cup heavy cream

Bake the Cakes

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour (or spray with baking spray) a 9-inch round cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and pinch of salt to combine. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add 1/3 of the buttermilk and mix to combine. Repeat this process until all ingredients are added, and scrape sides to ensure batter is smooth.
4. For the white cakes, the batter is complete at this stage. For the red cakes, add several drops of red liquid food coloring until desired shade. For the blue cake, add about 20 drops of liquid food coloring (or more if it is too pale).
5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and bake 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the frosting while the cakes are cooling

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-6 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Add the cream gradually, mixing until frosting is a smooth, creamy texture.

Cake assembly

1. Cut each white and red cake into 2 even layers about 3/4 inch thick. Use a 5-inch circle cookie cutter (or trace a bowl with ~5 inch diameter) to cut one white layer and one red layer into a smaller circle.
2. Use the same method to remove the center of the blue cake, which remains in one thick layer.
3. To assemble the cake, begin with a large red layer and spread with a thin coat of buttercream on top. Top this with a large white layer and spread buttercream thinly on top. Repeat with another red and white layer, for 4 total layers at this point.
4. Transfer the the outer ring of the blue cake on top of the white layer. Spread a thin amount of frosting over the 5-inch red layer, and top this with the 5-inch white layer. Transfer these two stacked layers into the center of the blue.
5. Frost the cake with the remaining frosting. If desired, decorate with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

Notes

1. There are enough remnants for a complete second two-layer cake. Slice the blue inner circle into two layers, then piece together the remaining inner and outer circles to form a two-layer cake with alternating colors. The cake will have a checkered appearance when sliced.
2. If needed, scale down frosting recipe to make enough to complete the second cake.

By Erin McDowell

Stay At Home Doctor https://stayathomedoctor.com/