Red, White and Blue Cake

We had checkered friends over last night for dinner. Little did they know, I was planning something special. Their anniversary is tomorrow, July 4th and I was determined to make a memorable dessert to celebrate. I had previously found a recipe for a white/chocolate zebra cake and thought I could alter it to make it red, white and blue. I think it turned out pretty good! Here it is!

Red, White and Blue Cake (or use any combination of colors)

Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9″ x 2″ round baking pan with cooking spray (you can use a 8″ x 2″ for a slightly thicker cake). Set the pan aside.
2. In the bowl of your mixer, blend the sugar and eggs until lightened, about 2 minutes. On low speed blend in the oil, milk and vanilla until well combined and smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to remove any lumps. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients. Combine on medium speed 1-2 minutes or until the batter is smooth and lump free. Be sure to scrape down the bowl halfway through mixing.
4. Remove 1 1/2 cups of the batter and place in small bowl. Remove 1 1/2 cups of batter again and place into another small bowl.
5. Tint one of the small bowls of batter red and the other blue.

Red, White and Blue Batters

6. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of red batter into the center of the cake pan. Next, spoon 3 tablespoons of the white batter into the center of the red batter. Then spoon 3 tablespoons of blue batter onto the whire. Continue to alternate batters, in bulls-eye fashion until all batter is used. You will now have thin rings of each batter on the outer edges of the pan, thicker rings towards the center.

7. I used a bamboo skewer to make a design in the batter. This is optional.

Cake Batter with Design

8. Bake the cake in the center of the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, or until the cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Dust lightly with confectioners sugar or frost with whipped cream. Decorate as desired.

Out of the Oven

(Recipe adapted from The Whimsical Cupcake)