Favorite 4th of July Dessert: FLAG CAKE. This healthy cake is made grain free thanks to coconut flour. Using strawberries, blueberries and frosting to decorate.
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It’s an American FLAG CAKE ya’ll!
The perfect dessert you can bring to 4th of July cookouts or any summer barbecue really.
A Gluten Free Flag Cake Recipe
We’re making a homemade flag cake using a coconut flour sheet cake recipe (gluten free), some vanilla frosting and berries to decorate the flag design.
You will love this!
A truly easy recipe that is simple to make, fun to decorate and a crowd-pleaser. We’re talking:
- sweet – thanks to the honey and banana pureé (or applesauce!)
- moist – eggs + your favorite nut or seed butter + milk
- grain-free – we’re using coconut flour + tapioca flour
- fresh berries – blueberries + strawberries are the perfect fruit combination to decorate and design the American flag.
Tips on selecting the best berries:
Strawberries
- fresh green caps
- natural sheen
- plump
- bright red coloring
Blueberries
- dark blue color
- powdery look
- firm berries
Also remember that neither strawberries nor blueberries ripen after harvest, and they’ll last longer if kept in the refrigerator.
Be sure to wash the berries just before use and pat dry with paper towel.
For this recipe I made sure to rinse the berries while the cake was baking and let them dry on a cooling rack, blotting them with paper towel.
Decorating tip: Make sure the berries are completely dry when placing on the frosting so they don’t slide around.
Sheet Cake Ingredients
- coconut flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- honey, cashew butter, eggs, banana purée
Tools Needed
- Quarter Sheet Pan, to bake cake
- Mixing Bowls, for cake ingredients
- Electric Mixer or metal whisk
How to Make a Flag Cake
First mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Then mix together the wet ingredients. Use either an electric mixture or make sure to whisk the eggs well with the honey and cashew butter so everything is evenly combined.
Note: coconut flour is six times more absorbent than wheat flours, so this recipe calls for 6 eggs.
Next combine the wet with the dry ingredients until the cake batter comes together. Then add batter to a lined quarter sheet pan.
Bake the cake for about 25 minutes then allow it to fully cool before frosting and decorating.
Frosting Options
Store-bought Vanilla Frosting – This is the easiest and quickest route. I love Simple Mills brand!
Whipped Coconut Cream – If using coconut cream, you’ll want to make sure the frosted cake is completely chilled before decorating with berries. Coconut cream frosting melts very quickly.
Vanilla Buttercream – Use a paleo-friendly grass-fed butter OR plant based butter, organic powdered sugar and vanilla extract.
Cream Cheese Frosting – Not dairy-free because of the cream cheese but it would be mighty delicious! You can use this recipe.
Make Ahead
This flag cake recipe can be made one day in advance – just be sure to cover the cake and store in the fridge until ready to enjoy.
You can also make the sheet cake recipe up to two days ahead. Just cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to decorate.
More 4th of July Recipes
As always, I LOVE seeing your creations and would be so delighted if you shared with me! Be sure to tag me on Instagram and leave a comment/review here on the blog.
American Flag Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 3/4 cup coconut flour, weighed 95g
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup banana puree, can sub applesauce
- 1/3 cup cashew butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 large eggs
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk, cashew, almond milk, coconut, etc.
For Decorating
- about 1 1/2 cups favorite frosting
- fresh blueberries & sliced strawberries for decorating, washed and dried
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper (see notes).
- Sift coconut flour into medium bowl. If you can’t sift, make sure no lumps are present. Whisk in tapioca flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Using electric hand mixer or stand mixer with fitted paddle attachment, combine honey and banana puree or applesauce on medium speed until smooth. Add nut/seed butter mixing on medium-high speed until combined. Add vanilla extract then eggs two at a time, mixing on low-medium speed until combined.
- Pour dry ingredients into bowl of wet ingredients and combine on low-medium speed. With mixer running on low speed, carefully add milk and mix until batter is smooth – careful not to over-mix; if lumps are present try breaking with fork. Immediately pour batter into prepared sheet pan, spreading smooth with spatula.
- Bake cake for 20-30 minutes, until inserted toothpick in center comes out clean. Watch baking time at 20 minutes as oven temps can vary. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting – about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, prepare frosting and slice strawberries into about 1/4″ slices. Make sure they’re dry so they don’t slide around on frosting.
- Decorate cake: once cake has cooled completely, spread frosting onto cake in even layer. To make flag start in upper lefthand corner of pan and create rectangle with blueberries, about 5×6″. Next start at top of pan, next to blueberries, and layer thinly sliced strawberries along top of pan. Continue making strips with strawberry slices until you’ve created the flag. The number of rows you get will depend on how large your strawberries are.
- Cake can sit at room temperature depending on frosting used, but best to keep chilled until ready to serve. Cut into square pieces and enjoy this festive flag cake.
Video
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information
This post was sponsored by California Giant Berry Farms in 2017. The post has since been updated with some more tips and notes. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.
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