How To: Red, White and Blue Velvet Cake

Red velvet cake has become an American favorite; add in blue and white layers, and you'll have a showstopping Fourth of July dessert.

Red, White and Blue Velvet Cake

Learn how to make this Fourth of July dessert with our easy step-by-step instructions.

For the ingredients list, go to the Red, White and Blue Velvet Cake recipe.

How to make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and prepare the cake pans and make the batter as directed in the recipe.

Divide the batter into three bowls. Add the red food coloring to one of the bowls. Repeat with the blue food coloring.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Cool, Then Cut

Allow the cake layers to cool completely. Remove from the pans, leaving the parchment on the bottom of the cake (the parchment can be useful for moving the layers). Use a 4-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out the center of each cake.

Mix and Match for Multicolored Cake Layers

Carefully lift out the center piece of each cake and place it into the center of a cake layer of another color.

To duplicate this cake exactly, combine like this:

Blue/Red
Red/White
White/Blue

Note: Layers for two cakes are pictured here.

Make the frosting:

Follow the instructions in the recipe to make the cream cheese frosting.

Build your cake:

Place the blue/red layer onto a cake stand or serving platter. Put one cup of the icing on the cake.

Smooth the icing to cover the layer all the way to the edge.

Place the white/blue layer on top of the icing and peel off the parchment from the top. Add another cup of the icing and smooth.

Add the final red/white layer.

Apply a crumb coating:

Cover the entire cake with a crumb coat of icing, to keep the crumbs from getting on the outside of your cake.

Here is a video on how to crumb coat your cake.

Add the star:

Use a large star-shaped cookie cutter to create the decoration on the top of the cake with blue decorating sugar. Once it is covered well, carefully lift off the cookie cutter.

Apply the finishing touches:

Divide the remaining icing into two bowls and color one of the bowls with red food coloring. Fill two pastry bags, fitted with star tips, with the red and white icings.

Decorate around the blue decorating sugar with small red stars. To use the pastry bag for piping stars, see this how-to video: How to use a Pastry Bag for Piping Stars.

Starting at the bottom of the cake, pipe a row of white stars, then repeat with a layer of red. Continue all the way up the sides of the cake.

Voila! Red, White and Blue Velvet Cake

It's hard to decide which is more striking — the multicolored layers inside the cake or the festive frosting on the outside. Either way, your guests are sure to be impressed.

Get the Recipe: Red, White and Blue Velvet Cake