When I think of a 4th of July celebration, I think of red white and blue, and—of course—Uncle Sam. I thought it would be fun to make an Uncle Sam Hat Cake for the 4th of July! This party cake will delight your guests and add a blaze of color to your table. You can also try making this Mini-Cupcake Flag, but nothing beats a red, white, and blue cake!

Ingredients

• 1 9-inch round yellow cake, baked and cooled (made from scratch or your favorite mix)
• 3 6-inch round yellow cakes, baked and cooled (made from scratch or your favorite mix)
• 7 cups white butter cream icing
• red food coloring
• royal blue food coloring
• Wilton # 21 decorator tip

• 3 pastry bags
• cake foil
• 12-inch round cake cardboard
• white fondant
• 1-inch star-shaped fondant or cookie cutter
• fondant roller ¼-inch dowel rod (optional: this will hold the cake layers in place if you're traveling)

Instructions

1.
Roll out a small handful of white fondant into an 1/8-inch layer.
2.
Use the 1-inch star-shaped fondant (or cookie) cutter to cut out 12 white stars in the fondant. Set them aside to dry for a few minutes.

3.
Cover the 12-inch round cake cardboard with your cake foil.
4.
Separate your icing to color it:
a. Leave 3 cups of icing white
b. Color 1 cup of icing royal blue with the blue food coloring
c. Color 3 cups of icing red with the red food coloring
5.
Use a bread knife or a cake level to cut the tops off all 4 cakes so they're as level as possible.

6.
Spread a thin layer of white icing in the center of your covered cakeboard, and carefully place the 9-inch cake on the board, cut (leveled) side down. Center the cake on the board.
7.
Spread a layer of white icing on the cut (leveled) side of a 6-inch cake, and place it centered on top of the 9-inch cake (icing side down).
8.
Repeat this process 2 more times to add the other 2 6-inch cakes.

9.
All 4 cakes should be stacked directly on top of one another, with a layer of icing between each cake to hold it in place.

10.
If the cake will be travelling you may want to insert a clean (new) wooden dowel rod down through the center of the cake for stability, to hold the layers in place. Before you insert it, cut the dowel rod so it is a little shorter than the fully stacked cake.
11.
Run over the whole cake a thin layer of white icing to seal the crumbs in, and smooth out the seams between the cakes. Don't worry if the cake shows through, or if you see some crumbs through the icing; this is just a quick base layer of icing to help hold everything in place.

12.
Put the white icing in to a pastry bag. Using the #21 star decorator tip, squeeze stars close together (no space between them) to fill in the top of the cake.

13.
Make the white stripes down the side of the cake by piping out 4 stars in a row at the very top of the side of the cake, then skip enough room for 4 red stars next to them for a red stripe. Pipe out about 4 more white stars, then leave room for a red stripe. You should end up with about 12 stripes, 6 red, 6 white each stripe should be about 4 stars wide. The measurements don't have to be exact.
14.
Once the stripes have been measured, fill in the rest of the white stripes down to the top of the bottom 6" cake. Take the white stripe from the top of the cake through the second 6" cake. Leave the bottom 6" cake for the blue band (see photo below step #16).
15.
Once you've finished the white stripes, fill a pastry bag with your blue icing.
16.
Use a #21 star tip to make a blue band around the cake on the first 6-inch cake above the 9-inch base cake (at the base of the hat, above the brim).

17.
Once you've finished with the blue icing fill a pastry bag with red icing.
18.
Fill in the area between the white stripes with red stripes using the same #21 star tip.

19.
Use the rest of the red icing and the star tip to fill in the base cake.
20.
Place one white star on the blue band below each stripe.

Tips

• This Uncle Sam Hat Cake calls for butter cream icing, so don't let it sit it out in the hot July sun or the icing will start to run. Keep the cake in a cool place until it is ready to be served.
• You could also use this hat pattern to make Dr. Seuss' hat, or to make a leprechaun or top hat cake.