July 4th Sheet Cake

This vegan vanilla sheet cake with vanilla buttercream frosting is perfect for a patriotic July 4th dessert! Topped with homemade red, white and blue vegan meringues, it's a real showstopper.

Components

Vanilla cake (vegan & gluten free)

The vegan and gluten free vanilla cake is a relatively basic recipe. We bake ours in a 9x13 cake pan for the perfect flag shape.

Vanilla buttercream frosting

Vegan buttercream frosting couldn't be any easier to make. Let your vegan butter soften at room temperature, then cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly add in the powdered sugar until the frosting is stiff and creamy. Add in vanilla and nut milk if needed for texture. That's it!

If it's particularly hot in your kitchen, store the buttercream in your fridge until you're ready to use it.

Set aside about ½ cup of frosting for piping stars on the flag.

Vegan meringues

To make the perfect vegan meringues to top this cake, check out this tutorial.

The only step that differs is adding food coloring to make them red, white and blue. Divide the finished vegan meringue into three bowls. Keep one third white, and add red and blue to the others.

Gel food coloring works best. We tried a few different natural options, but none of them worked well (and tended to deflate the meringues).

Pipe the red and white meringue into larger stars or circles onto 1-2 baking sheets.

Use a smaller, star-shaped tip for the blue meringues. These won't bake for quite as long, so place them on a separate baking sheet.

Once the meringues are finished, be sure to store them in the refrigerator until you decorate the cake. They tend to get pretty sticky at room temp and can be difficult to work with if not refrigerated.

Assembly

Let the sheet cake cool completely before frosting. I use an angled spatula to evenly spread the frosting.

Then, start by arranging the blue meringues in a rectangle or square in the top left corner of the cake. We're not going for historical accuracy here; as long as it somewhat resembles the American flag, we're good to go.

Then, arrange the red and white meringues in rows. You should get anywhere between 5-7 rows, depending on how big your meringues are.

Finally, use your leftover buttercream to pipe small stars between the blue meringues. So patriotic!

Substitutions

If you don't feel like going through the trouble of making vegan meringues, we suggest substituting with buttercream stars instead.

To do so, make a double batch of vanilla buttercream and divide into three. Leave one bowl white, add red food coloring to one and blue to the other.

If you'd prefer to use natural food coloring, beet powder works for red. Blue butterfly pea powder is great for a vibrant blue. Just don't add too much or it will change the flavor.

If you'd prefer to make a different cake base, try chocolate cake, funfetti cake or lemon almond cake instead!

Storage

Meringues tend to get pretty sticky at room temperature (especially in humidity), so we suggest waiting to decorate until just before serving. Or, decorate the cake with the meringues, then store the entire cake (covered) in the fridge until serving.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

More recipes for your vegan July 4th menu:

• Red, White & Blue Sangria
• 4 Berry Pie Bars
• Berry Yogurt Popsicles
• Macaroni Salad
• Grilled Cauliflower Steaks
• Grilled BBQ Tofu Kebabs
• Crostini with Strawberry Avocado Salsa

If you make this vegan July 4th sheet cake, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.

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