Celebrate the summer season with this strawberry Jello American flag cake made from a white cake mix and fresh berries. This Jello-infused 4th of July poke cake is topped with a fluffy whipped topping, and it’s such a refreshing, patriotic dessert that’s easy to make.
This is a semi-homemade recipe. Meaning that, instead of making a homemade cake, you can use a cake mix. It’s a jello-infused poke cake, like my red white and blue poke cake and red white and blue cupcakes, except this one uses fresh berries to create an American flag design on top.
Why Make My American Flag Cake Recipe
- It’s quick and easy to make. This is a semi-homemade recipe, using a white cake mix and a simple white topping. You can save time without sacrificing on flavor!
- This 4th of July poke cake is strawberry gelatin-infused, making it extra moist despite using a store bought cake mix.
- It’s best served chilled in the refrigerator, making it a refreshing summertime dessert for backyard BBQ’s, Memorial Day parties, or Independence Day festivities. It’s chock full of strawberry Jello goodness and fresh berries on top!
- The American flag design is so easy to decorate with no piping skills required. All you’ll need is a spatula to spread the Cool Whip on top, and then both sliced strawberries and fresh blueberries for the stars and stripes design.
Ingredients & Substitutions Notes
- Vanilla Cake Mix – You can use any white cake mix or yellow cake mix; my personal favorite is this French vanilla cake mix. You can also make it gluten-free with a gluten-free cake mix. Depending on which cake mix you buy, you’ll probably need a few large eggs and a little bit of canola oil to mix up the cake.
- Strawberry Jello Mix – I highly recommend buying the actual brand of strawberry Jello mix. Personally, I’ve found that some of the off-brand strawberry Jello mixes can taste a little “fake”.
- Cool Whip – I use Cool Whip because it’s easy, but you can also use Dream Whip or homemade whipped cream instead. If you’d rather have frosting, you can top the cake with buttercream frosting or cream cheese frosting.
- Fresh Berries – You’ll need fresh, stemmed and sliced strawberries for the alternating red and white stripes. Then I like to use fresh blueberries to create the field of stars for this American flag design.
How to Make a Jello American Flag Cake
Gather your ingredients, and prep anything that needs prepped. Start by washing and drying the berries, and then stem and slice the strawberries length-wise with a paring knife. Last but not least, you’ll need to grease up a 9×13 cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Baking the Cake Mix
- Start by mixing together the cake mix, water, canola oil, and eggs according to the package directions for your particular cake mix. You can do this in a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer.
- Next, pour the cake batter into a greased 9×13 cake pan, and bake it according to package directions. One trick to tell if it’s done is to insert a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean, your cake is ready to come out of the oven. If it comes out with wet cake batter, let it bake for a few more minutes and check again.
After baking, allow the cake to cool for about 15 to 20 minutes. In the meantime, you can get the Jello solution ready to go.
The Jello Infusion (for Extra Moisture)
- Mix the strawberry gelatin mix with boiling water.
- Then add in cold water, continuing to mix well, ’til the Jello mix is fully dissolved.
- Once cooled, poke the top of your cake all over with a fork, creating small holes all over the top of the cake. Alternatively, you can use the handle of a wooden spoon. This will create bigger holes– and extra moisture.
- Slowly pour the Jello mixture over the entire cake. Then allow the cake to finish cooling.
Pro Tip: Poke each hole about 3/4 of the way through the cake. Poking the holes too shallowly will force the Jello to stay on top, and it won’t soak in very much. Poking the holes too deep will let it all pool up in the bottom of the pan, making the bottom of your cake soggy.
Assembling the American Flag Design With Fresh Berries
- Using a spatula, gently spread your whipped topping evenly over the entire cake. Be careful. Some cake mix cakes are so light and fluffy that the top will easily crumble and spread with the whipped cream.
- For the field of stars, place 5 or more rows of blueberries to the top left corner of the cake. Finish your stars and stripes design by adding rows of strawberries to create the red stripes.
When you’re done decorating, cover and chill your 4th of July cake with fresh berries for at least 3 to 4 hours before serving. This refreshing dessert is best served cold straight out of the icebox. It’s perfect for summer picnics and potlucks, backyard BBQ’s, Memorial Day dinners and your 4th of July celebrations!
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ’s
Yes, you can! You can easily make this dessert just as good with a chocolate cake mix, funfetti cake mix (sprinkles are especially fun for the 4th of July), yellow butter cake, strawberry cake mix, etc.
I only recommend using fresh berries. Frozen strawberries get soggy after they’ve thawed, and the color won’t be as vibrant.
Yes, you can use sugar-free Jello to make this American flag cake. You can also use a sugar-free vanilla cake mix.
Cover your flag cake with a layer of plastic wrap. Stored this way, it should keep for 2-3 days in the refrigerator before the fruit starts to turn and the Jello makes the bottom of the cake soggy. If you’re serving this at an outdoor event, try to keep it cold in an ice chest until you’re ready to serve, so that the whipped topping doesn’t melt and make the cake soggy.
More Easy 4th of July Desserts
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Jello American Flag Cake
Ingredients
- 13.25 ounces vanilla cake mix
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 3 large eggs
- 3 ounces strawberry Jello mix
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 8 ounces Cool Whip
- 1 pint blueberries washed and dried
- 1 1/2 quarts strawberries washed and dried
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350° F, and grease the bottom only of a 9×13 cake pan.
- In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, water, canola oil, and eggs on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Bake at 350° F for 24-29 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. After baking, allow the cake to cool for about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a separate smaller bowl, mix the Jello mix with the boiling water.
- Then add the cold water, continuing to mix well, ’til the Jello mix is fully dissolved.
- Poke the top of the cake all over with a fork, creating small holes all over the top of the cake.
- Slowly pour the Jello mixture over the entire cake, and allow the cake to finish cooling.
- Using a spatula, gently spread the Cool Whip evenly over the entire cooled cake.
- Add 5 or more rows of blueberries to the top left corner of the cake.
- Stem and slice the strawberries length wise; then add rows of strawberries to create the red stripes for your cake. I usually have enough room to add 4 rows of strawberries to my cake.
- When you’re done decorating, cover and chill your Fourth of July cake for 3 to 4 hours before serving.
Everyone loved my cake, it was delicious and came out great. Even someone who doesn’t eat sweets ate my cake.
That’s awesome! I’m so glad everyone liked it.