This 4th of July Cake is the perfect chilled dessert for your Independence Day celebrations. It is so fun with the red, white, and blue colors inside.
4th of July Cake
The flavors in this 4th of July Cake are tart and sweet and just yummy! And the red, white, and blue colors are so much fun. It makes for the perfect 4th of July dessert! Feel free to go the extra mile and add red, white, and blue sprinkles or edible stars over the top.
Adding the Colors
Adding the color to this 4th of July Cake is much easier than it seems, I added the jello colors with one of my children’s medicine dispensers. You can also pour it in but the dispenser to keep the colors from bleeding into each other as you can see in the picture below. You can also use condiment squeeze bottles. Be sure to make nice holes in the spots you want the color to go, I used the handle end of a butter knife to make the holes in the cake, then I alternated the red and blue colors. If you want to make bigger holes, you can use the handle of a wooden spoon.
Switch It Up For Different Holidays
You can easily switch the colors to make this work for different holidays- like grape and lime or orange jello for halloween. Cherry or Lime would work great together for Christmas. Purple and Pink or Yellow of Easter. Red and Pink for Valentine’s Day. The list goes on and on and the possibilities are endless!
Be sure to make this cake well in advance of when you want to serve it, the longer it gets in the fridge, the better it will taste. I like to make it up the night before I plan to serve it so all the flavors have a chance to settle. I also like this cake to be COLD when I serve it. It makes it more refreshing for a hot day.
Make Layered Jell-O Cups with the Extra Ingredients
You only need the 3 oz. packages of Jell-O for this recipe, but I actually made up the 6 oz. packages so that I could make some cute layered jello cups for the 4th of July as well. To make these cute cups, just make one package at a time and give the first layer enough time to set in the refrigerator before adding the second color. This is perfect for the smaller kids or the picky eaters. Sprinkle them with red, white, and blue sprinkles or pop rocks to make them look over-the-top festive!
More 4th of July Treats
- Firecracker Sugar Cookie Bars: Festive sugar cookies with a little 4th of July surprise. These delicious cookies are topped with POP ROCKS instead of sprinkles. Kids go crazy over them!
- Strawberries and Cream Cake: A fresh and fruity cake that is perfect for summer. Position the sliced fruit to look like fireworks for the 4th of July!
- Angel Food Cake with Pineapple Whip: Add blueberries to this angel food cake dessert for a little lighter red, white, and blue dessert.
How to Make 4th of July Cake (Patriotic Poke Cake)
Ingredients
For the Cake Batter:
- 15 oz white cake mix (unprepared)
- 1/2 c. water
- 1/2 c. sour cream
- 1/3 c. vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
For the Filling:
- 3 oz. package raspberry jell-o mix or any red color flavor
- 3 oz. package berry blue jell-o mix or any blue color flavor
For the Frosting:
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 c. sugar (white, granulated)
- 12 oz. cold whipped topping (cool whip)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the cake batter ingredients (above) then cook it according to the directions on the box in a 9×13 inch pan. (About 25-30 min)
- When cake is completely cooled after baking, mix together the first jello package with 1 cup boiling water, then stir in 1/2 c. cold water. Jell-o mix needs to remain in liquid form for dispensing so don’t refrigerate before adding to cake.
- Make a bunch of holes in the cake using the handle end of a butter knife. Using a child's medicine dispenser, add about 1 to 2 tsp of the Jello into every other hole.
- When finished, repeat steps with the second color of jell-o.
- Cover cake and refrigerate until ready to serve (at least 1 hour). Add frosting when cake is cold.
- Using a hand mixer, thoroughly blend the frosting ingredients, then spread evenly over the cake.
- Optional: just before serving, top with fruit or sprinkles.
Equipment
- 9×13 inch pan
- Hand Mixer
Anna tapia says
What kind of sugar for frostening regular or powered sugar ?
Erica Walker says
You can probably use either but we used granulated white sugar for this recipe, hope this helps!
Cassandra says
Could I do this exact recipe but in a Bundt cake pan?
Favorite Family Recipes says
I haven’t tried it that way, but I bet it would work! Let me know how it goes if you try it!
Debbie McGhee says
Was following the recipe which calls for 3 eggs welllll it’s egg whites only. I should have realized but after an extremely long day I didn’t. Also I looked at other recipes for what type of sugar, I’m going with white. Who knows. Recipe really needs to be edited
Erica Walker says
If the box mix that you are using says “egg whites only” you will just want to use egg whites. If it doesn’t specify on the box you can just use the whole egg (which is what we did with the original recipe). It is also white granulated sugar. Hope this helps!
Rachael Yerkes says
This is awesome! I love it!
Kristyn says
Poke cakes are seriously my favorite! They are perfect during summer & always such a crowd pleaser. I love the colors in this! And, I usually just add cool whip on top, but this topping sounds great! I will have to add that on top next time.
Taylor says
This is so fun and the perfect 4th of july dessert! Easy and delicious!
Toni says
I loved it! I can’t wait to make it for the Fourth of July!
Tanya Schroeder says
My kids would love to make this for the 4th of July!
Tammi says
I didn’t see where you add the sour cream! I believe it goes in the frosting but the recipe doesn’t say!
Favorite Family Recipes says
The sour cream is added to the cake mix with the water, vegetable oil, and eggs. It makes the cake extra moist. Thanks for asking!
Dorinda Lomax says
Delicious! Instead of making a sheet cake I decided to make cupcakes and the results were awesome. Everyone enjoyed them for the 4th of July gathering. Thank you .
Echo says
Great idea! Thank you for sharing the idea!
Marilyn Jordan says
Can you use a vanilla cake mix and if so do I still use the ingredients for the white cake mix? Thanks!
Favorite Family Recipes says
Sure!