Flag Cake...Happy 4th!

Sorry this post is late, guys.  I tried to make a smaller version of this cake yesterday, in hopes of using that one to post.  I didn't want to make two full-size cakes....who would eat all of that?!? Well, okay, maybe I could...Anywho, so that one did NOT turn out at. all.  I was so bummed, because I knew I wouldn't be able to post the cake until the 4th, today.  Ah, the best of intentions.  But I tried the cake again today, full-size, and it worked soooo much better!

A little late, but still delicious! Here's how to make your own flag cake!

Start out by doubling a cake recipe...okay, honesty time.  I made these "cake-mix style" and if you do that, just make two boxes.  Make one box (so, two 8" cakes) with only red food coloring, and one box with one 8" blue and one 8" white.  If you have white food coloring, I suggest it, it makes a difference. :)  Here are my cakes, ready to be assembled, flag-style:

First things first: level all  of your cakes. I took the very very top off mine, you shouldn't need to cut off very much.  Just enough to give a nice surface to frost.  Now, cut your red cakes and your white cake in half, horizontal.  This should give you four layers of red to work with and two of white.  Put one of the red aside, you won't need it (snack pile, anyone??). Once you've done that, go ahead and stack a red layer, apply filling (I just used buttercream frosting), then a white layer, filling, and then another red layer. It should look like this:

You should have a thick layer of blue left (cuz you didn't cut that one, right...right?), one red, and one white left.  Take a 4" cookie cutter, or a 4" biscuit maker, or anything that will suffice that is 4", and cut a shape out of the red and out of the white.  What's left of those colors, put aside.  Your spread should look like this:

Put a layer of "filling" on the red layer that's already on the stack of cake.  Then, lay the blue on top (I turned mine over so that the top of the cake would be perfectly flat).  Inside the hole, take a small spatula or a knife, and line the inside of the hole with frosting.  Place the WHITE layer in the hole.  You don't want to place the red in first, because then your stripes will be off.  Once it's in, spread a small amount of frosting on top of the white circle.  Then, place the red on the white.  The hole in the blue layer should be filled and the cake should look like this:

Now you're ready to frost the outside and decorate if you wish! I just did mine plain white.  To be honest, by the time I got to the "decorate" part, I was tired!  Plus, I feel like it's more fun that way...you take this "boring" looking cake to a party and when you cut into it, voila!

 I'll post some pictures in a little bit of what the cake looked like inside.  Now, I must go, or I'll be late for the BBQ and fireworks! :)