Stop right there. Don’t you dare run out of the room. This is the most delicious and splash-making cake you could possibly cook for your Fourth of July festivities. And I know you can do even better than I did.
I got this recipe from my favorite Barefoot Contessa cookbook, "Barefoot Contessa Family Style." Oh, what can I say about Barefoot Contessa? I love her deeply. Her recipes are real, simple, and abundant…just the way I like ‘em. I first made this delicious Fourth-of-July cake three years ago for the annual party and disgusting display of fireworks we have on our ranch. Honestly, third world countries could be fed with the resources Marlboro Man and Tim drop on legalized explosives every year. Another story for another time.
Anyway, Barefoot Contessa. I love her. I even wrote her a fan email once, outlining in detail the love I feel for both her and her beautiful recipes. She filed a restraining order. Not really. She wrote me back. Actually, her secretary wrote me back, but I’m sure Barefoot Contessa told her to. She did, I just know it. Barefoot Contessa probably said, "That girl? That one psycho who went on and on about how my standing rib roast and sundried tomato pasta salad inspire her more than Dostoyevsky ever did? Better drop her a note before she shows up on my front porch."
Fine, then. Let’s just make the cake, shall we? (I love you, Barefoot Contessa. See you soon!)
The Cast of Characters: Unsalted Butter, Sugar, Eggs, Sour Cream, Vanilla, Flour, Cornstarch, Kosher Salt, Baking Soda, Cream Cheese, Powdered Sugar, Raspberries, and Blueberries. Lots of ingredients, but nothing too exotic.
You don’t have to have one of these. I wouldn’t have one myself, except an anonymous angel gave us one for a wedding gift. Actually, the donor didn’t mean to be anonymous; the gift card fell off and I never found out who gave it to us. Not that it matters because I never finished my thank you notes anyway. Another story for another time.
Place 2 1/4 sticks of unsalted butter in a mixing bowl.
Add 3 cups of sugar.
Mix together on high until light and fluffy. About a minute or so.
Now add SIX eggs, two at a time. Mix after each addition of two.
Now measure 1 cup sour cream…
Please, in the name of all that is flavorful and holy, do not use low-fat sour cream in this recipe.
Dump it into the mixing bowl.
Now measure 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla…
…And add it to the bowl.
Now. Sift together 3 cups flour, 1/3 cup cornstarch, 1 teaspoon kosher salt (use 3/4 teaspoon regular salt if you don’t have kosher), and 1 teaspoon baking soda.
I usually skip the sifting step as sifting makes me crazy…but I always do it for this recipe because Barefoot Contessa tells me to.
Now turn mixer to low and gradually add flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture, one scoop at a time.
Mix after every addition.
Keep adding the flour mixture…
And mix until just combined. Do not overmix!
Barefoot Contessa says to butter and flour the pan, which I’ve done in years past…that is until I discovered this modern miracle.
Spray large sheet cake pan generously. The measurements of this pan are 17 x 12 1/2. Note: This recipe may be halved for a smaller pan, as this recipe feeds an army.
Pour the thick cake batter into the pan. It’s much thicker than regular cake batters.
With a knife or offset spatula, start spreadin’ the news…I mean, start spreadin’ the cake batter evenly over the pan.
Be sure to get some on your finger so you can have a lick or two.
I’m a real believer in offset spatulas. Offset spatulas and world peace.
Now pop the pan into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. I baked mine for exactly 20 minutes, so you probably want to start checking then.
Here’s the baked cake—mmmmm. nice, golden perfection.
Time to make the absolutely-out-of-this-world cream cheese frosting.
Take 1 1/2 pounds, or 3 8-oz packages cream cheese. No, you can’t use low-fat. We’re celebrating our independence here, folks.
And 1 pound—four whole sticks—unsalted butter.
Throw butter & cream cheese in the mixing bowl…
Whip to combine.
Now add 1 pound of powdered sugar…
And 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla.
Mix until thoroughly combined, scraping the sides once during mixing.
Oh Lord, as Mike would say. Honestly, this frosting alone is almost a confection. Impossible to resist. The sooner you get it on the cake and fill the mixing bowl with hot, sudsy water, the better off you’ll be.
Plop about 1/2 the frosting on the cake…
And start spreadin’ the news.
There’s that offset spatula again. It’s my friend.
After the cake is frosted, mark off the area of the stars with a toothpick.
No need to be proportionately accurate; just guesstimate.
Do you have anything like this? It’s just a run-of-the-mill pastry bag with a large star tip. I got this one at Wal-Mart in a pinch.
I usually use this one, but I think my garbage disposal ate my metal star tip that goes with it. Honestly, the Wal-Mart version works just fine for this cake.
Fill the pastry bag 2/3 full with icing.
Then, this is how I keep the icing from splurging out the top. Fold down both corners…
Like you’re making a paper hat, only with a plastic pastry bag from Wal-Mart.
Fold down the very tip, then keep folding down a couple of times.
This photo doesn’t show it, but I’m gripping the folded-down end tightly under my fingertips. Start by squeezing two lines of frosting at the bottom of the cake.
Now wash and pat dry approximately 4 half-pints raspberries.
Start making two rows of raspberries on the cake.
After you have two rows, add another two lines of frosting…
And just keep repeating: two lines of frosting, two lines of raspberries, two lines of frosting…etc.
Now fill the square in the corner with a nice layer of blueberries. High in anti-oxidants!
You can be much more OCD than I was. Sometimes I can’t be bothered with making everything perfectly lined up. It might have something to do with the four marauding savages under the age of ten I had running through my kitchen.
With the star tip, squeeze little dollups of frosting all over the blueberries to represent the "stars."
No need to be historically accurate; you won’t fit fifty on there.
This cake is always a crowd pleaser, even if you don’t take the time to make neat, straight lines, which I clearly did not. The decoration is nice and splashy, but the real appeal of this cake, I tell you, is the cake itself. It is beyond rich, dense, and out of this world, and those dadgum berries actually fool you into believing you’re consuming a healthy dessert.
But Fourth of July only comes once a year, so don’t think about it.
One easy variation, if you didn’t want to mess with a pastry bag and flag decoration, would be to frost the cake with all the icing and just sprinkle raspberries and blueberries randomly and generously all over the cake. You’d still have the red-white-and-blue effect, with a lot less work. The cake itself, really, is the star here…not the decorations.
Now go forth and make this cake, turkeys! Barefoot Contessa will be proud.
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