Make an easy American Flag Cake for 4th of July. Use your favorite flavor of cake for the cake portion, then add cool whip and colored shredded coconut in a flag pattern.
Prep Time20 minutesmins
Cook Time35 minutesmins
Additional Time1 hourhr
Total Time1 hourhr55 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: 4th of july cake, 4th of july cake recipe, american flag cake, American Flag Coconut Cake, american flag food, cake for 4th of july, colored coconut cake, easy 4th of july cake, red white and blue coconut cake, red white blue cake
Servings: 20servings
Author: Beth
Ingredients
Coconut Cake
1 ½cupsall purpose flour
2 ¼tspbaking powder
¼tspsalt
2sticksunsalted butter, room temperature1 cup
1cupgranulated sugar
4largeeggs
¾tspcoconut extract flavor
⅓cupcream of coconut*
Topping
1containercontainer of cool whip8 oz
Shredded coconutabout 3 & 1/2 cups
Red and blue food coloring
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350º F.
Spray a 9x13 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gently mix using a spoon.
In a larger mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar, beat using an electric mixer until fluffy. Add in the eggs and coconut extract, lightly beat.
Add in the cream of coconut, mix by hand using a spatula.
Add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, do not dump it in, rather take spoonfuls of the flour mixture and gently shake it over the wet ingredients. Fold in the mixture until no flour remains. Repeat with the other half of the flour, folding it in and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to incorporate everything.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool completely to room temperature.
Place 1/2 cup coconut in a ziploc bag. Add blue food coloring, zip the bag closed and shake until the coconut is evenly dyed.
Place 1 & 1/2 cups coconut in a ziploc bag. Add red food coloring, zip the bag closed and shake until the coconut is evenly dyed.
Use a spatula to evenly spread the cool whip on top of the cake.
Add the blue coconut to the upper left hand corner of the cake, creating a large square. I just eyeballed mine.. adding more coconut and making the square larger until it looked proportional.
Add the stripes to the cake, alternating between the red and white coconut, beginning and ending with red. Red - white - red - white - red - white - red.
Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready. Best served the same day it's assembled.
Notes
*cream of coconut is sold in the grocery store or you can use the cream the comes on top of a can of coconut milk