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Red, White & Blueberry Ice Cream Flag Cake

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4th of July American flag ice cream cake with blueberry sauce

Carrie Sellman here from Half Baked – The Cake Blog, excited to share a fun new recipe for your 4th of July celebrations.  Sometimes when it’s hot outside, you simply don’t feel like cranking the oven up to 350!  So today we’re doing a different kind of cake – an ICE CREAM cake – created especially for Independence Day. It’s a new spin on the classic berry flag cake… one that I hope you enjoy!

ABOUT THIS CAKE

Smooth and tangy raspberry sorbet is layered with sweet vanilla ice cream, creating a delicious berries and cream flavor in this Red, White, & Blueberry Ice Cream Cake.  A spoonful of homemade blueberry sauce adds to the berry goodness while giving the plated dessert a playful flag effect. This no-bake treat is both refreshingly light and cool.  Plus, you can make it several days in advance. Perfect summer party food! (Full recipe & instructions are below.)

july 4th ice cream flag cake recipe

july 4th flag cake with ice cream and blueberries recipe

RED, WHITE & BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM FLAG CAKE

by Carrie Sellman

(serves 9 –12)

Ingredients:

  • 3 pints Raspberry Sorbet
  • 2 pints Vanilla Ice Cream
  • Blueberry Sauce (see recipe below)
  • 1 to 2 cups blueberries, reserved for serving

Blueberry Sauce:

  • 2 1/2 cups blueberries
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Step by Step Instructions:

1. Make blueberry sauce by combining 2 1/2 cups blueberries, sugar, lemon and zest in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Simmer, stirring occasionally, until berries start to burst.  Cool slightly.  Pour into blender and puree until smooth.  Pour through a mesh strainer into a bowl to remove any little bits.  Cover and store sauce in refrigerator until ready to use.  This can be made several days in advance.

TIP: If the sauce is too thick to puree or strain, add a few drops of water to thin until the sauce is pourable.  Add water cautiously, just a little at a time. You can always add more water but you can’t take it out if you use too much!

2. To start the ice cream cake, set one pint of raspberry sorbet on counter to soften, roughly 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, line a loaf shaped baking pan with two sheets of cling wrap, with long ends hanging up and over the edges.  This will help you remove the ice cream cake when finished.

4. Scoop sorbet into a bowl and mush with wooden spoon to soften.  Once sorbet is smooth and spreadable, spoon into the bottom of your loaf pan.  Using the back of your spoon or a rubber scrapper, spread sorbet into an even layer across the pan.  Be sure to work it into the corners.  Cover with additional plastic wrap.  Put pan into freezer for 20 – 30 minutes or until the sorbet layer is cold and firm.

TIP: This first layer is by far the most challenging step!  Hang in there!  Trust me, the next layers will be easier.

5. Set one pint of vanilla ice cream on counter to soften, roughly 5 minutes.  Scoop ice cream into bowl and mush with wooden spoon to soften.  Spread an even layer of ice cream over the hardened sorbet layer.  Put pan back into freezer to allow this layer to firm.

6. Repeat steps to create a second layer of sorbet.  Freeze.  Repeat steps to create a second layer of ice cream.  Freeze.  Repeat steps to create a third and final layer of sorbet.  You will have five layers total.

TIP: There is a lot of inactive freezing time involved in this recipe.  Don’t plan your entire day around this cake!  Simply start a day or two in advance and add new layers when you have a few free minutes.

7. Freeze 4 hours or overnight.

8. Invert pan onto serving plate and let rest on counter for a few minutes until the cake has released from the pan.  If serving immediately, remove plastic wrap.  If serving later, leave plastic wrap on and pop the entire plate into freezer until later.

9. When ready to serve, add reserved blueberries to the blueberry sauce and stir.  Slice cake with a warm knife (run knife under hot tap water and dry with paper towel).  Place slice onto plate and spoon a small amount of blueberry sauce in top left corner for the full flag effect.  An alternative option is to spoon blueberry sauce over the entire top of the cake before cutting.  (Please note that the blueberry sauce will smear your layers when cutting unless you freeze it this way).

TIP: To save money, I used frozen blueberries to make the sauce (Step #1) and used fresh blueberries for garnish (Step #9).  This could be made with any combination of dark colored berries.  Swap out blueberries for blackberries, etc.  I chose raspberry sorbet because my family loves raspberries.  You could easily use strawberry sorbet or ice cream, it will just be slightly more pink and less red than this version.  Use what you love best or what is on sale!

usa patriotic flag cake with berry sauce recipe

Wishing you all a happy 4th of July!  Enjoy!

12 Comments

  1. Megan's Cookin' June 26, 2012 at 8:01 am

    Great idea! Pinned

  2. Lisa June 26, 2012 at 8:10 am

    Oh wow! I made something like this last 4th that I called “abstract flag” lol. I shared the pictures here: http://www.mooreminutes.com/2012/06/giant-little-resource-of-4th-of-july.html# This one you shared today is SUPER cool because of all the stripes! I love it. I really love how the red ice cream stripes turned out such a pretty shade of red too.

  3. Lisa Moore June 26, 2012 at 3:12 pm

    Oh wow! I made something like this last 4th that I called "abstract flag" lol. I shared the pictures here: http://www.mooreminutes.com/2012/06/giant-little-resource-of-4th-of-july.html# This one you shared today is SUPER cool because of all the stripes! I love it. I really love how the red ice cream stripes turned out such a pretty shade of red too.

  4. Sarah August 25, 2013 at 9:51 am

    What a great idea! I love ice cream cakes, especially in the summertime. I found that putting a tray of ice under the cake helps with it not melting too quick (it gets pretty hot here).

  5. Jessica April 15, 2014 at 10:42 am

    What a great idea! My grandmother’s birthday was on July 4th, so we always celebrated extra special. This looks like something she would have loved. I might just have to try it before the 4th. It looks so good!

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