America's Birthday Cake

There are all kinds of themed 4th of July desserts, many using various fruits to emulate the American flag on a pie, sheet cake or other. I got a newsletter recently from Food 52, which I adore, and they had this amazing looking American Flag Cake recipe that I thought I just had to try. 

It was SO much fun to make. It wasn't quick or easy to make, but it was a lot of fun. I realized how time consuming it would be when they indicated it was five separate cakes to build this flag inside all these layers. 

I started on July 3rd in order to have this bad boy ready for America's birthday and finished it up in my day off on the 4th of July for us to enjoy after dinner that evening. 

I'm not used to using so much food coloring. I used Americolor gel food coloring and probably used a few drops more than the recipe even indicated. I felt like I was making Sesame Street cupcakes all over again. Such pretty colors though! 

Look at how vibrant the red cake is! 

You have to cut each cake in two.  When I did this it seemed as if my cakes were not tall enough to cut, but I carefully did so without breaking them, thankfully. 

I followed the instructions in the recipe carefully to ensure I was layering hte right colors properly to make the flag. It started with red followed by a layer of buttercream. 

Red, white, red white to make the stripes. 

Then came blue. I should have cut the circle in the middle out less on an angle, but it still worked out ok. 

I filled in the blue circle with more red and white cake and it was ready to frost. 

It took me a whilte to frost with doing a good crumb coat layer, then I put it in the refrigerator for a while and did another layer.  I spun it around and put pressure down with the offset spatula to make a swirl on top. 

Then I did some fairly easy and simple decorations with red sprinkles and red hots.  After, the real reveal with this cake is on the inside!

When I cut into it and cut out a slice, the kids were amazed!

Not bad for my first attempt, but the blue layer was a little tilted with how I had cut the center out. 

Happy Birthday America! 

Stars, Stripes and Cherries

Happy 4th of July! I have always loved the 4th of July. What's not to love? BBQ, fun in the sun, fireworks and time with family. I also have always looked forward to my birthday being only a week away. This year, my husband is traveling far, far away (to the far east, in fact) and wouldn't be here to enjoy all those lovely things. While I knew he would have an amazing first class airline meal to choose from, we had our 4th of July celebration on the 3rd this year including a picnic, some time at the beach and a lobster dinner that ended with this yummy cherry pie with homemade vanilla bean ice cream.

This stars and stripes pastry idea was on the most recent cover of Martha Stewart Living. They used different pie fillings, but I decided to use cherries that are in season in Michigan right now and these cherries were picked just up the road from where we live.

I made my pastry a day in advance to allow it to chill. I actually made enough for four single crust pies, so I have some pie pastry in the freezer to save me some time later.

I made a small pie with some of these vintage pie tins my mum gave me. I was able to get the pie crust for the bottom and have plenty left over to cut out my stars and stripes to use for the top from just a single crust portion of dough. I used a rotary ravioli cutter for the stripes and a Christmas cookie cutter in the shape of a star.

I pulled this together quick while we were video conferencing with my husband's family and preparing our lobster dinner. Oh....and chasing our 1 1/2 year old around! The four stars and three stripes have no significant meaning aside from that is what I fit on this little pie.

After I arranged the stars and stripes, I brushed on an egg wash and sprinkled it with turbinado sugar.



Here it is all baked and ready to serve with homemade ice cream. The pastry got nice and golden brown from the egg wash and the fresh cherry filling was so juicy and sweet. The stars and stripes just weren't as pretty when it was cut into pieces, so I didn't bother taking photos after it was cut.