A flag cake is a simple way to have a dessert that doubles as a patriotic centerpiece. There are several holidays where a flag cake would be appropriate besides the usual July 4. Flag Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Labor Day are all obvious choices, but you could also make a flag cake for Presidents Day, Washington's Birthday, Lincoln's Birthday, Martin Luther King Day. You could also use this kind of cake to welcome home veterans, or to commemorate other important dates in American history, from various eras in United States history.

This page lays out simple instructions for how to make a flag cake, as well as tips and ideas to help you modify the cake to your tastes. If you need a dessert you can assemble quickly, but that will still make an impact at a summer celebration, a flag cake is the way to go. A few simple decorations arranged on a frosted cake, and you're ready for dessert. A flag cake is easily decorated with white frosting, blueberries, and strawberries, seasonal ingredients that make this cake both colorful and economical. It would be a great project for the children in the house to work on while you prepare the rest of your holiday meal.

1. 9 by 13 cake baked, and removed from pan. Try using a white cake for the best color palette results. If you wish, you can flavor a white cake something interesting that will go well with the berry icing, like almond or orange. Look for clear extracts.
2. Waxed paper or parchment paper
3. White frosting, the whitest you can make or find. If making yourself, use clear vanilla extract to flavor it to make it the whitest it can be.
4. A spatula or butter knife to spread the frosting. Special cake frosting knives are available that will make this part of the job much easier, giving you a nice, flat surface to decorate. Offset icing spatulas allow you to easily frost right to the edge.
5. A large, flat work surface to decorate the cakes. It helps if the surface is elevated if you don't have an offset cake icing spatula. You can easily make one using a cookie sheet and coffee cans.
6. 2 pints of strawberries, sliced. Small berries work best for the rows, so look for pints with smaller berries. Raspberries also work well. Look for berries that are not bruised so the juice will not bleed into the icing.
7. 1 pint of blueberries
8. A tray or platter for the cake

1. Place the cake on the platter. You may need to use a rimless cookie sheet in order to get it there. Or in taking the cake out of the pan, invert it onto a cookie sheet, and then invert the cookie sheet onto the serving platter. You may also wish to place a rectangular cake doily or foil on the platter as well.
2. Insert strips of waxed paper about ¹/₂ inch under the edge of the cake in order to protect the serving platter from stray splops of icing. Or you may use parchment paper, as long as what you use is easy to slide out from under once the cake is iced.
3. If the cake's top is uneven, use waxed dental floss, fishing line or a long cake knife to carefully remove a thin layer to even it up.
4. Frost the cake as smoothly as possible.
5. Remove the waxed paper strips, taking care not to allow it to curl up and either get frosting on the serving platter, or to cut into the frosting on the cake.
6. Arrange the blueberries in the top left corner of the cake in a rectangle that's five inches wide and four inches tall.
7. Arrange the strawberries in seven rows, starting at the top edge of the cake, and ending at the bottom. You'll have six white rows showing in between.

1. 9" by 13" cake baked, and removed from pan. Try using a white cake for the best color palette results. If you wish, you can flavor a white cake something interesting that will go well with the berry icing, like almond or orange. Look for clear extracts.

2. Waxed paper or parchment paper

3. White frosting, the whitest you can make or find. If making yourself, use clear vanilla extract to flavor it to make it the whitest it can be.

4. A spatula or butter knife to spread the frosting. Special cake frosting knives are available that will make this part of the job much easier, giving you a nice, flat surface to decorate. Offset icing spatulas allow you to easily frost right to the edge.

5. A large, flat work surface to decorate the cakes. It helps if the surface is elevated if you don't have an offset cake icing spatula. You can easily make one using a cookie sheet and coffee cans.

6. 2 pints of strawberries, sliced. Small berries work best for the rows, so look for pints with smaller berries. Raspberries also work well. Look for berries that are not bruised so the juice will not bleed into the icing.

7. 1 pint of blueberries

8. A tray or platter for the cake