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overhead view of an American Flag cake decorated with blueberries, strawberries and whipped cream

Patriotic Flag Poke Cake

  • Author: Julianne Dell
  • Prep Time: 45 minutes
  • Chill Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 28 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours 13 minutes
  • Yield: 15 slices

Description

The tye dye vanilla cake batter is soaked in vanilla pudding topped with whipped cream and berries decorated like an American flag. You’d be surprised how easy it is to make this cake.

Ingredients

For the Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups (285g) granulated sugar
  • ½ cup (118 ml) vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tablespoon (15ml) vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup (118ml) sour cream
  • 2 ½ cups (350g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons (7.5g) baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon (4g) baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon (5g) salt
  • 1 1/3 cup (315ml) buttermilk or milk

For the Filling

  • 1 can (14oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk

For the Topping

  • 12 ounces mascarpone whipped cream
  • 2 cups (472) heavy whipping cream
  • 1 cup (130g) powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 6-ounce container fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
  • 2 1lb containers strawberries, rinsed and dried

Instructions

For the Cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, butter, eggs. egg yolks and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Next mix in the sour cream and beat until well combined.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients. Alternate adding half the dry ingredients and half the buttermilk at a time and mix just until the flour starts to incorporate. Then add remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk and beat until well combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top to ensure it’s well mixed.
  4. To color the cake batter, divide the batter into three bowls.  For the white (undeyed batter), measure out 2 cups of cake batter and set side. Divide the remaining batter between other two bowls, about 1 ½ cups each. Use a couple of drops of food coloring in each bowl (1 for red and 1 for blue) and mix thoroughly.
  5. Alternate and layer adding the 3 different cake batter colors in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan, swirl occasionally with a knife. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes, keeping a careful eye on the baking during the last few minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick. If inserted into the center of the cake, the toothpick should come out clean. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool completely.

For the Filling:

  1. Take the end of a wooden spoon or another round object and poke holes all over the top of your cake. Pour a can of sweetened condensed milk over top of the cake and spread gently with a spatula.

For the topping

  1. Place the mixing bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes to chill.
  2. Spoon the mascarpone cream into your bowl and beat on a medium-low speed (speed 3 on your stand mixer). Slowly pour in the heavy cream, about 1 cup, allowing the mascarpone cheese to turn to a liquid consistency.
  3. Add the remaining heavy cream then increase the mixing speed to high (speed 8-10) and beat it until soft peaks form.
  4. Next, add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract, beating on low until sugar is incorporated. Continuing beating at a high speed until stiff peaks form.
  5. Set aside 2 cups of the prepared whipped cream in a large piping bag filled with a 1M piping tip.

Decorating

  1. Rinse and thoroughly dry the berries. Thinly slice the strawberries length-wise. You will not need 2 full containers, so pick out the ones that a freshest and similar in size to one another.
  2. Spread the remaining frosting over top of the cake after you’ve filled it with the sweetened condensed milk.
  3. Line the blueberries in a rectangle 7 across the top and 6 down the side, placing side by side.
  4. Then start laying the strawberries down, one over top of the other in a row from left to right.
  5. Pipe a line of rosettes using the prepared whipped cream.
  6. Then continue placing the strawberries, and alternating with rows of piped rosettes. You may need to slice the strawberries for the final row in order to fit.
  7. Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Notes

  • You can use a cake mix instead of making a homemade cake
  • Don’t have buttermilk? Make this easy substitute with lemon juice or vinegar.
  • For the topping: Substitute Cool Whip for the topping instead of making whipped cream. If you’ve never made a mascarpone whipped cream before, read my full tutorial for helpful advice. The mascarpone can also be swapped out for cream cheese.
  • Filling: If you don’t want sweetened condensed milk, this is also good with an instant vanilla pudding filling. Mix the pudding mix and milk and pour over top of the cake when it’s still in liquid consistency. Chill the cake until the pudding is set and then decorate.
  • Storage and make-ahead options:

    You can make the cake up to 2 days in advance, however, poke cakes need to be refrigerated once they’re filled and decorated. For the best results, I recommend adding the whipped topping and berries the day of serving however, you can frost and decorate it the night before if needed. In that case, be sure to really dry the berries and pat away extra moisture off the strawberries with a paper towel.

Nutrition Information:
1 slice
502
40.9 g
308.9 mg
26.9 g
18.4 g
60.3 g
2.1 g
6.9 g
95.7 mg
  • Category: Cake
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: American